The ODI series between Bangladesh and West Indies continues in Dhaka on Friday when the two sides meet in the second ODI of the three that are on the schedule. Bangladesh go into the match knowing that a win will see them win the series with a match to spare.
West Indies need to win to keep the series alive but more importantly than that they need to start winning to get their World Cup qualifying campaign up and running. They had to go through the qualifying event last time and will be desperate to avoid taking part in that again. They need to start winning soon.
Bangladesh
It was an almost perfect performance from Bangladesh in the opening ODI of the series. It wasn’t quite perfect because they made slightly hard work of a nothing run chase but to criticise them too much for that would be nit-picking and they don’t deserve that, particularly when you consider it was their first match at international level in 10 months. What that does mean though is there is plenty of natural improvement to come from them and given how emphatically they won that opening match that is something which will give Tamim Iqbal a lot of comfort.
Bangladesh were expected to dominate that opening game but that sometimes brings its own pressure, but they set a marker with the new ball and once the spinners were introduced to the game it was like men against boys. In terms of the bowling performance it is a case of the same again being required whereas a little more quality will be asked for from the batsmen, especially if they are forced to bat first.
West Indies
This was always going to be a tough assignment for West Indies but the size of the task will have really hit home in that opening match of the series. They just looked like fish out of water with the bat in hand and really you would have to say that they didn’t put up much of a fight. There is the argument that they didn’t have a warm up match for the series, and to an extent they can get some slack as a result of that, but there is no getting away from how disappointing they were.
To their credit, their bowlers had a good go with the ball and if they could have got another wicket they might have given the home side something to think about. That bowling effort will give West Indies a little more belief that they can get out of this match with a win should they find a way to repel the Bangladeshi spinners with the bat in hand. The other positive thing for them is there is so much natural improvement to come but they have to make sure they get it out of themselves.
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Team News
With the series not yet won and them being so dominant in the opening match of the series, it is expected that Bangladesh will be unchanged for this game and choose to utilise their bench strength if and when they have wrapped up the series.
Given that a lot of the star West Indies players have sat this trip out, Phil Simmons doesn’t really have many options to try should he want to make changes after that mess of a display in the first game. It is possible he goes in with the same side too.
Betting
I was lucky enough to get on Bangladesh in the previous game when the bookmakers clearly didn’t appreciate how many of the cards they were holding going into the series but the emphatic result of that opening game has clearly opened their eyes and the handicap is a pretty big one now. I’m not saying I don’t expect Bangladesh to win here and I would imagine they will cover the handicap but there isn’t as much wiggle room in the wickets as I would like in order to justify a bet.
The bet I like therefore is for West Indies to hit the most sixes. They might only have put up 122 runs in the first ODI but they still clobbered four sixes in that time and we are used to the men from the Caribbean swinging the bat hard and hitting a clean ball. Bangladesh didn’t hit a single six and as a rule they are much the lesser hitting side of the two. That all makes me surprised we can get an odds against price on West Indies to hit the most sixes here but I’m happy to snap it up.
Tips
WON – Back West Indies Most 6s for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with Boylesports
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