The second match of the Cricket World Cup 2019 sees Trent Bridge stage the tournament for the first time when Pakistan take on West Indies in the first outing of the competition for both teams. As a result both will be eager to get off to a winning start.
Both teams have been in this part of the world preparing for the tournament for a few weeks now but it must be said that neither were completely convincing in the matches that they played so it will be intriguing to see who can improve enough to come out on top here.
AllSportsBetting Podcast Preview
Kev and Steve have previewed this match on the latest ASB Pod. Click the video below for a full audio preview of the contest.
West Indies
I guess we should expect some improvement out of the West Indies from their efforts in the competition in Ireland because their senior players have arrived. They showed their ability in a warm up match against New Zealand in the lead up to this match and if they can perform to their best then they are entitled to be a match for anyone, but due to the gulf in class between their best and their worst, they do need to ensure they are nearer the former than the latter.
The acid test for West Indies is obviously going to come with the ball here. They look well stocked with batsmen but not just depth but actually players in excellent form and who are all capable of destroying any bowling attack. There is a little pressure on them here but with eight games to go to rectify anything that might go wrong West Indies can play with an ounce of freedom, which makes them dangerous.
Pakistan
West Indies are not the only side who have a huge difference in their best and their worst. Often with Pakistan we can see the two in the same match which makes them extremely difficult to predict. It can also be their strength though because they don’t know what they will do next let alone anyone that they play. Pakistan have lost their last 10 ODIs heading into this match so form is not good.
To be fair to Pakistan, they put up four decent batting efforts against England recently, so if they can keep their momentum going with the willow then it will set them up to win matches. The improvement must come in their bowling from that series and while they have senior and better players back, the level of improvement needed is pretty vast. Pakistan can’t afford to be weak against a brutal batting line up.
Team News
It appears that Shannon Gabriel is going to miss this match through injury so Oshane Thomas is expected to start this match. Shai Hope will have the keeping duties ahead of Nicholas Pooran. Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis will reform their brutal opening partnership.
Pakistan have already announced that Shoaib Malik, Shaheen Afridi and Abid Ali will miss out with the other place on the bench likely to be between Haris Sohail, Mohammad Hafeez and Imad Wasim.
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Betting
From the minute the fixtures were announced I was going to load up the betslips for this match and nothing has changed in the time I’ve been waiting. I’ll begin with a maximum bet for over 14.5 sixes in this match. I don’t really need to go into detail here. Trent Bridge is a tiny ground with a good batting wicket and accessible boundaries for any team in this tournament least of all these two. I’ve done to death how I expect West Indies to hit sixes here so I don’t need to go into that again. Pakistan have hit a lot of sixes off a better attack than this in their series against England. The price has gone down throughout Thursday but I don’t mind taking 8/13 on a max bet.
Keeping with the sixes theme and the 11/10 on Andre Russell to hit more than 1.5 sixes is just all wrong. The only danger is that he doesn’t get to the crease but they’ll throw him in whenever a wicket goes in the last 10 overs and he’ll have the freedom to give it a bit of Reggie Biffington. This was his home ground in the T20 Blast so he knows the dimensions and the ins and outs of it which is good. He clobbers sixes for fun and this price and this line looks attackable.
I’m expecting a run fest here I have to say. Three times in the domestic 50 over competition we saw scores in excess of 400 put up here while 340 wasn’t enough for Pakistan in the ODI against England here a couple of weeks ago. This is fast becoming the best one day wicket in the country and they have been rewarded with the domestic 50 competition final from now on. The run line here is 610.5. I don’t see that as being high enough.
I’ll also have a small punt on Mohammad Hafeez to be the leading Pakistan bowler on the day. West Indies are terrible against spin and we saw the Pakistan seamers go round the park here earlier in the summer so it might not take long for Sarfraz to call for the part-time spinners. West Indies have a lot of left-handers in their side so you would think Hafeez taking the ball away from them would see him get a fair few overs. He can have a golden arm which is handy. It is a speculative punt but not a forlorn one.
Tips
Back Over 14.5 sixes for a 10/10 stake at 1.62 with Bet365
Back Over 610.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with Bet365
VOID – Back A.Russell – Over 1.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Coral
Back him here:
Back M.Hafeez Top Pakistan Bowler for a 1/10 stake at 8.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
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