Sri Lanka conclude the white ball leg of their tour of the Caribbean on Sunday when they once again take on West Indies in the third and final ODI of the series at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua.
West Indies wrapped up the series with a second win in succession on Friday but there are World Cup qualifying points up for grabs in this finale so this is certainly not a dead rubber. West Indies will be in a good place if they can win it while Sri Lanka need to take something from the series.
West Indies
You wouldn’t say that it has been two perfect performances from West Indies but they have got the job done in both matches, and while they were having a bit of a wobble in the second game in particular, to handle the pressure they put on themselves in the way they did will have been a welcome relief. After a long time in the wilderness in this format of the game, things are starting to move in the right direction for West Indies.
You can’t be competitive in this format of the game without heavy top order runs and in certain places in the world they need to come quickly so it is good that West Indies are covering that base. They are starting to rescue innings that are getting away from them with the ball as well so the only missing ingredient is to start restricting teams at the death when they have the ball in hand. That will come but from where they’ve been the first two games here have been very encouraging.
Sri Lanka
I think it is fair to say Sri Lanka have found the going a little tough in the series so far. They have looked a batsman light and failed to fully capitalise on two wonderful platforms they have set themselves and with the ball they don’t look anywhere near strong enough for these conditions, and you wonder whether they have what it takes to be competitive overseas in 50 over cricket as a result. That is the huge improvement they need to make.
If Sri Lanka don’t start winning soon then they could end up having to go to the qualifying competition and while conditions will benefit them should that take place in the UAE, if you are a fan of theirs you wouldn’t want to rely on this attack to get them to the World Cup. Given how weak their bowling is they either need to put up a lot more runs when batting first, maybe by playing the extra batsman and hoping a part-time bowler can get through some overs for them, or start winning tosses so that they can chase.
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Team News
West Indies might decide to get some game time into Kyle Mayers ahead of the Test series. He could come in for Darren Bravo who hasn’t really delivered on his potential once again. Kevin Sinclair could also come in too.
Sri Lanka have Dasun Shanaka available to them now after he has served his quarantine and you would think he will be given the game to get up to speed ahead of the Test series. Thisara Perera hasn’t had the series he would have wanted and could be vulnerable.
Betting
I took the over on the runs line in the last game and it covered with plenty to spare and I didn’t see any reason to suggest that we shouldn’t take it again here. The line has crept up to 495.5 but I still don’t think that is high enough. I say that because the line was covered comfortably in the last game and I still think there is more to come from West Indies with the bat should they bat first or have to pull it out chasing. I’m not convinced we’ve seen Sri Lanka put it all together either.
We’ve seen nothing to suggest that the pitches are suddenly going to drop out in terms of being batting paradises and with Sri Lanka still to put a full 50 over innings together and West Indies having plenty left in them I expect this series finale to be another high scoring affair. We are only looking for 248 runs each in this match and the way the two sets of batsmen are getting the job done now I expect to see that many overall and probably a few more on top.
Tips
WON – Back Over 495.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Bet365
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