The middle match of the three T20 games between England and West Indies will be played out on Sunday when the two sides head from Durham to Bristol for the second game with plenty on the line for both teams.
England drew first blood in the series on Friday night and they have the first of two chances to land the spoils here. West Indies are once again in the situation where they have to win to force a decider for the second time on this tour.
England
I would imagine for the second time in a week that Harry Brook will have been delighted with how a maiden appearance as permanent captain went in the opening game. There were plenty of questions over this England team going into the series, although maybe not quite as many as the ones that there were about the 50 over team, and this time they were up against a proper opponent, one that they never really gave a look in to and saw off ruthlessly.
England were able to go on the attack with the bat in that opening game and ended up posting a very daunting looking score. They have plenty of spinners in their ranks these days that just allow Brook to manage the field a little more. I was a little concerned about whether England could get the job done at the end of the innings without the likes of Mark Wood and Jofra Archer but those fears were emphatically reduced in that first game.
West Indies
This hasn’t been a tour which has gone well for West Indies overall at all but they would have been particularly frustrated to lose the opening T20 because that is their strongest suit and against a team who were under a new captain with plenty of questions for his side to answer, they would have expected to come out on top. In truth, they were never competitive in the game. There weren’t many moments where you could claim that they were on top at all, if any.
The one thing I think most people expected from West Indies in that first game was some serious fireworks with the bat. We got the odd big hit here and there from them but there was never a time where they were taking England down and having the bowlers worried. If West Indies are going to level this series they need to offer their power much more and they have to bat better against the plethora of spinners England are going to utilise.
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Team News
There is no reason for England to make any changes from the opening match after winning it so emphatically but the shorter straight boundaries in Bristol might see them wanting to play an extra seamer rather than a spinner so Saqib Mahmood or Luke Wood could come in for someone.
West Indies might think about making a change or two to their side though. They pulled off a bit of a surprise when there was no Shimron Hetmyer in the team for the opening game and he might get a game here.
Betting
The sixes let me down in the opening game of the series but god loves a trier and I’m going on the same bet once again here. This time I am a little more confident because the ground dimensions are very much in our favour whereas at Durham we needed the boundaries in a touch and for the first time in a while they weren’t. I suspect that was an England plan because they have spinners and want to give them a huge ground to bowl into. They can’t do that here in Bristol because the straight boundaries are naturally short.
The sixes line has crept up to 16.5 but if I was prepared to take 14.5 at Durham I have to be prepared to take 16.5 here, especially when Gloucestershire have played one T20 Blast match on this ground this season and there was a bonkers 26 sixes in that match in what was a high scoring contest. I’ve still seen nothing to suggest that either of these bowling units are going to dominate the batting ones so I’ll back the ball to fly regularly in this one.
Tips
Back Over 16.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
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