The brief T20 series between Australia and West Indies concludes on Friday when the two sides head to Brisbane to meet in the second game of the two as both teams continue their preparation for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
This is the final match West Indies will play against a full member nation ahead of the tournament so they will be keen to come away with a win. Australia are using these matches to build up some form and momentum.
Australia
You would be hard pushed to argue that it was a convincing performance from Australia in the opening game but when the T20 World Cup comes along they won’t care for performances if they are winning and they did just about get themselves over the line in Carrara on Wednesday. They will know they need to play much better than they did when the really important stuff comes along but they are getting their key players active which is important.
In fairness, in both the first game of this series and the ODIs that Australia previously played at home prior to the series in India, they have bowled very well and looked very good with the ball both in terms quality and the depth they have with it. Where the struggles have come in those matches is with the bat and it doesn’t seem to matter which personnel or which order they go with they can’t seem to put a full innings together.
West Indies
Given the circumstances ahead of the opening match I think West Indies deserve a huge amount of credit for their performance in that game. When you consider that a number of their team were playing in the CPL final on Friday night, to be playing a T20 international on the other side of the world less than five days later was a huge effort. To play as well as they did says a lot about both their character and the skill level they have.
West Indies eventually lost the match and what will be eating away at them is they will know they got themselves into a position to win the game and should have won it but couldn’t put the closer on it. They rescued a poor middle section with the bat at the end of the innings and then regularly took wickets. If there was one thing that let them down it was their fielding under pressure. If you want to give them the benefit of the doubt then that travelling could be an excuse but they need to do better there.
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Team News
Australia have confirmed that Mitchell Marsh won’t be heading to Brisbane for this match so Australia will be forced into a change. Steve Smith might be the man to come in for him. Marcus Stoinis and Kane Richardson continue to miss out.
You would imagine with this being the last full member opponent West Indies will face ahead of the World Cup that they will want to give the three players who didn’t feature on Wednesday some game time. That will mean we see Evin Lewis, Akeal Hosein and Obed McCoy featuring here.
Betting
The Gabba is generally a pretty good ground for hitting sixes because the pitch there is usually true for batting and the straight boundaries seem to get shorter and shorter as time goes on. Big Bash matches here are usually full of sixes and I don’t expect anything different here with the way that West Indies play their cricket. This is a much smaller ground than the one these two teams played on at Metricon Stadium in the opening game.
West Indies didn’t lack for firepower hitting six sixes in their innings there and they could be bringing the likes of Evin Lewis into the mix here. Those six sixes were hit without prolific hitters such as Johnson Charles, Nicholas Pooran or Rovman Powell clearing the rope so there is more to come from them. There is clearly a more to come from Australia in the six hitting department as well so when we add it all together I expect an 11.5 sixes line to be covered.
Tips
Back Over 11.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
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