The second match at the T20 World Cup on Friday night sees the Super Eights continuing at the Kensington Oval in Barbados where the tournament hosts West Indies will look to get their campaign back on track when they take on the co-hosts USA.
These two teams were beaten in their opening match in this group and their margin of defeat was sufficient enough that a second loss will eliminate them from the competition so both sides are fighting for their lives on Friday night.
West Indies
West Indies went into the Super Eights looking like the team to beat but all of a sudden they have gone from possible favourites to fighting for their lives in the tournament. I don’t think their defeat to England was too bad. In fact, for the first three-quarters of each innings you could make a legitimate case for the host nation being ahead of the game but they suffered huge setbacks in over 16 in both innings and paid the price.
I don’t think they need to panic yet but there is no doubt that the pressure is on West Indies in this match and it will be interesting to see how they go with that. When they faced an associate side in the opening match of the tournament you could tell they were scared to express themselves in case it went wrong but there is no room for fear in this one. They need to get out on the front foot and keep on going and reverse the pressure as soon as possible.
USA
You have to say that USA have been a breath of fresh air in this tournament and if ever there was a justification for extending the number of sides to 20 like this competition has done then they are it. I would imagine their initial aim in this event was to put up a good showing and be competitive but to actually have come through the first group and ensure automatic entry into the 2026 competition is superb and can really enhance the boost in USA cricket, which primarily was going to come through Major League Cricket.
What I have liked about USA in this tournament is regardless of the conditions their batters have given themselves some time to play themselves in and when once they are set they all look to go big and give their bowlers as many runs as possible to play with. It worked in the opening stages of the tournament and while they came up short in the first game of the second group, they shouldn’t change their approach. They just need to be a little cuter and an ounce tighter with the ball.
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Team News
West Indies haven’t really made many changes to their starting XI in the matches that have mattered in this tournament but they will have to make one here because Brandon King has a side strain. Shimron Hetmyer is expected to come into a batting order which might need a change up.
USA captain Monank Patel is still a doubt for this match so the top order for ISA is likely to be unchanged but the chop might come for Jasdeep Singh who was expensive in the previous match. Shadley van Schalkwyk could come in for him.
Betting
When you consider that there were 14 sixes in the match here on Thursday between India and Afghanistan which was a day game and where Afghanistan was 23-3 at one stage, I’m a little surprised to see a 14.5 sixes line for a match between the two most aggressive batting units in the competition so far and ones which have regularly belted balls out of the park. These aren’t big boundaries in Barbados as we saw not just in the game here on Thursday but also when Australia took on England here earlier in the competition.
We know that West Indies can put any attack to the sword and you would imagine that they’ll go after this USA attack early doors and look to get them under the pressure that South Africa had them under but USA have shown intent against every team in this competition and while they went down against South Africa on Wednesday they still hit a decent attack for 11 sixes. Even if this is a low run chase for West Indies, and there is no evidence that it will be, the earlier result has brought net run rate into play so they’ll go for them quickly. I expect the sixes to flow here.
Tips
Back Over 14.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
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