The Super 12 Group 1 concludes in the double header of action at the T20 World Cup 2021 on Saturday and the first two teams to finish their group campaign are Australia and West Indies when they meet in Abu Dhabi.
West Indies will end their tournament whatever happens in this match but a win for Australia would have them looking very handy in the race for a semi-final spot. It wouldn’t be completely guaranteed until after the second match but it would take something extraordinary to deny them.
Australia
I think it is fair to say that Australia have been opportunists in this tournament rather than anything special. They have hung in there and taken advantage when teams have shot themselves in the foot but then the one time a team didn’t beat themselves Australia came up a long way short against England. That shows that Australia are there to be beaten but you would imagine at some point in this tournament they are going to show their best stuff.
I guess you could argue they did that against Bangladesh last time out but their opponents in that match had mentally checked out of the tournament a long time before then so quite how much we can read into that remains to be seen. The one thing we have seen in the tournament is that the Australia bowlers are getting the job done. They will be tested here but if they overcome that test then they will be on hand to leave themselves looking handy for a place in the semi-finals.
West Indies
We already know that the title defence of West Indies will come to an end after this match. They have been awful in this tournament there is no getting away from that. All the fears about them heading into the tournament, such as them being an aging side and conditions not suiting the way they like to go about their batting efforts have all rung true and they have ended up looking a poor shadow of the team which won this title in India five years ago.
A few of their players will be playing their final World Cup match here so they will want to go out on a high which gives West Indies something to play for here, and it might just be that now the pressure is off them this is where they are at their most dangerous. Their batsmen can just go on the attack now and it doesn’t really matter if they don’t come off anymore. They then have the bowling to challenge a possibly misfiring Australian batting unit.
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Key Men
Given that West Indies have shown throughout the tournament and for a long time before it that they struggle against leg spin, Adam Zampa looks a key man here. He goes into the tournament off the back of a five wicket haul against Bangladesh so his confidence should be high.
Nicholas Pooran has looked very good in the last couple of matches and he will know most of this Australia attack from the various franchise competitions around the world. He is dangerous at the best of times but when there is a license to go on the offensive like he has here he could be explosively hot.
Betting
I should back Australia to win this match but there is something in the back of my mind that West Indies are going to have some fun here and I could do without them clobbering a load of sixes to either stick Australia under pressure that they wilt in or backdoor cover a handicap in the second innings. I’ll stick with a different bet which involves exploiting the West Indies weakness against quality mystery spin.
We’ve seen it all through this tournament and it was a trend of theirs heading into the competition so it is nothing new. Adam Zampa therefore is going to be a threat to West Indies in this match. Already we’ve seen Adil Rashid, Keshar Maharaj and Wanindu Hasaranga take at least two wickets against West Indies taking the ball away from the right handers and Zampa is bowling well enough to suggest he can be another. The only match Zampa hasn’t taken two wickets in during this tournament is the defeat to England when he only bowled three overs before England got home. Assuming he bowls a full quota here the 6/4 on him taking more than 1.5 wickets looks massive.
Tips
Back A.Zampa – Over 1.5 wickets for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with Coral
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