Australia and West Indies continue their preparation for the T20 World Cup on Wednesday when the last two world champions in this format meet in the first of two T20 internationals, with this opening game taking place in Carrera.
The tournament is less than a fortnight away and with West Indies having to join it at the outset these matches are particularly important for them as they look to shape their side for a title tilt. Australia will want to defend their title and have the chance to build some form ahead of the start of the defence of their crown.
Australia
The Australians go into this series off the back of a recent series loss in India where to be fair to them they gave a pretty good account of themselves but were just undone by a couple of tosses, one of which was particularly significant given the rain that was around. That was a series where we saw just what damage the Australians can do with the bat and when you consider that David Warner wasn’t involved in those matches it shows the depth the world champions have with the willow.
We didn’t really get to see the best of their bowlers in that series but that was largely conditions induced. We did see that unit go well in the ODI series which they played last month prior to heading to India so we know that in the right conditions they can get the job done. This is a chance for those bowlers to find their feet again and get their preparations spot on ahead of their title defence beginning in just over two weeks.
West Indies
You get the impression that the way this series has been shoehorned into the schedule that these games are purely for West Indies to get a feel for the conditions and make sure they have adjusted to them ahead of their T20 World Cup campaign getting underway a week on Monday. Already this has been a disrupted West Indies side with the debacle over the flight of Shimron Hetmyer meaning he is going to miss out and you wonder if that is a guide to the state of the standards within this squad.
If West Indies are going to put up a creditable showing at the T20 World Cup then they are going to need to rotate the strike better than they have done in recent times. The majority of these Australian grounds are too big to rely on hitting sixes to prosper. The other thing they are going to have to do is bowl well, particularly at the death. That is an area where they have been found wanting a bit recently.
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Team News
Australia are expected to bring Dave Warner and Mitchell Marsh back into their side for this match while Mitchell Starc is also in the squad. Marcus Stoinis is still out injured which could see Cameron Green get a spot in the lower order.
Shamarh Brooks got his call up so late in the day that he won’t arrive in Australia in time for these matches. That means Johnson Charles could be involved despite being the back up opener in the squad. Yannic Cariah was a surprise call up for the T20 World Cup and could feature.
Betting
I’ve a feeling the wheels might come off for West Indies in this match but that is reflected in the odds for it so I don’t really want to bet on an Australia side who are plenty short enough anyway and who might need to readjust to conditions having been in India last week. This was a low scoring ground in the Big Bash League last season but if the wheels are going to come off for West Indies I don’t really want to be taking any unders either but there is one bet I like.
Even if West Indies offer very little in this match I expect to see a good showing from Odean Smith, a man who will be asked to be the next Andre Russell in this West Indies side in that he’ll bowl at the death and he’ll come in at six or seven and look to get after the bowling. We saw in India that the Australia attack isn’t the best at the end of the innings so that should work out well for Smith, who as we saw in the CPL when he smoked 42 off 16 balls can hit a pretty long ball. Smith has a performance line of 28.5 which only needs a wicket and nine runs to cover or a wicket and a catch. He’s perfectly capable of covering this with bat or ball so I like the over here.
Tips
Back O.Smith’s Performance – Over 28.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Bet365
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