Sri Lanka and the West Indies play the first of three ODIs on Sunday when they take each other on in Colombo. With the series so short both sides will know if they lose this opening game they will have to win the final two matches to win the series so the room for a slow start is non-existent.
Both sides will be more comfortable in this format than they were in the Test matches so it will be interesting to see how they both go about this opening match.
Sri Lanka will be without Kumar Sangakkara in this format now but the evergreen Tillakaratne Dilshan continues rolling along and a young looking batting line up will look to him to provide the guidance and the quality. Lasith Malinga’s return with the ball makes Sri Lanka look infinitely stronger.
West Indies haven’t been able to call on their experienced stars so Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard will all be missing for the tourists. That said with the likes of Sunil Narine, Ravi Rampaul and Carlos Brathwaite in the squad their bowling looks very threatening which should keep them competitive throughout.
There have been 118 previous ODIs held at the R.Premadasa Stadium so this ground will be no stranger to most players. Sri Lanka have won 61 and lost just 32 of the 100 matches they have played here so this is a ground they perform well at.
In contrast the West Indies have a slight losing record here having won two and lost three of the five games they’ve played at this venue. This will be the first ODI they’ve played here in 10 years though so that form guide probably doesn’t have much relevance.
I’m going to take a bit of a cautious watching brief in this first match before getting more expansive with bets later in the series but there is one I can’t avoid here which comes in the most sixes market.
There aren’t many matches in this day and age where the Windies don’t hit the most sixes and I don’t see this one being one either. Sri Lanka are probably bigger hitting as a batting unit now than they were but they are still one of the lowest six hitting sides in the world.
The likes of Dilshan and Thirimanne look to pierce gaps rather than bludgeon sixes and they should in theory be spending plenty of time at the wicket. Contrast that to the West Indies who have natural six hitters from about 1-9 in their order and even at 8/11 the tourists hitting the most sixes looks fantastic value.
Back West Indies Most sixes for a 6/10 stake at 1.73 with BetVictor
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