The English summer will conclude on Friday when England and West Indies will round off their ODI series. England won the series in London on Wednesday and can complete a clean sweep of the completed matches with a win in Southampton while West Indies will be looking for a consolation to leave these shores with.
Both sides have their issues going into this final match so there is the potential for this match to be a bit of a damp squib of a dead rubber but in front of what should be a decent crowd at the Ageas Bowl hopefully the sides can take some inspiration.
England
For the first real time in the series England were tested in the previous match at The Oval. They were tested in the field and then they were certainly troubled with the bat but a quite brilliant batting blitz got them ahead when the rain came. That showed excellent poise and game knowledge which is often key.
England will have been disappointed with the way they bowled in the previous match although that would be doing a magnificent innings from Evin Lewis a major disservice. They were too short for far too long and took an eternity to bowl a Yorker. When they did they had success with it so Morgan’s men will want to bowl better.
West Indies
I would imagine the West Indies will be wondering what on earth they need to do to win a match in this series. They had England in a spot of bother with the ball in Bristol but a Moeen Ali masterclass got away from them and then they were well in control at The Oval and were undone on a five over burst.
We finally saw West Indies stick up a decent 50 over batting effort in the last match. You would like to have thought they would build on that but injuries and absences are probably not going to allow that which is a shame. If they can back up that batting effort then there is still plenty of talent with the ball.
Team News
England remain without Alex Hales and Ben Stokes after their Bristol misdemeanour. Dawid Malan has been called into the squad and there is no point in doing that if he isn’t going to play. Tom Curran could make a debut.
West Indies will be without Evin Lewis and Jason Holder for this match. Lewis is out with the injury he sustained at The Oval while Holder has flown home for a funeral. Jason Mohammed will skipper the side with Carlos Brathwaite called up.
Ageas Bowl
This will be the 22nd ODI to be held on this ground. England have an 8-7 record from the 15 matches they have played here with West Indies 2-1 with a no result from their battles on this ground.
This is the best one day wicket in the country at the minute with runs almost guaranteed to flow. That said a band of weather moved across the area in the lead up to the game so it might not be as flat as we are accustomed to.
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Betting
I’m not going to go too mad in this match because it is a dead rubber when all is said and done but there is probably more motivation for England than West Indies and the absences the tourists have should give the home side a genuine edge here.
The handicap in this match is 5.5 wickets or 44.5 runs which I think is a fair size but I expect England to cover it. England should be able to settle in much more with the ball with Lewis out and the buffet should arrive slightly quicker with the ball without Holder. England can round off the summer with an emphatic win.
Tips
WON – Back England (-5.5wickets/44.5runs) to win 5th ODI for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Bet365
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