The second match in the super eight stage of the T20 World Cup takes place in St Lucia on Wednesday night and it sees the co-hosts West Indies getting their new group campaign underway when they take on England.
These two sides had different routes into this second stage with West Indies dominating their group and going unbeaten in it while England had to battle hard in order to take their title defence through to the super eights.
West Indies
It has been a dream tournament for the West Indies so far and unlike a few teams who have made it through you can’t even question the strength of their form either because they came out of the hardest first stage group. They have gotten better the longer the tournament goes on and while they know they will need to keep on progressing, they have plenty going for them, not least that they have been in the Caribbean all tournament and know the conditions.
West Indies were never going to have a chance in this tournament if they couldn’t smash the ball out of the park but the grounds are small enough that they can do that and with more batting depth than any team in the competition they don’t need to worry about pacing an innings. What has been most appealing about them so far though has been their bowling. It is about to get seriously tested but so far the bowling unit has done everything right.
England
England went into this tournament as one of the favourites to win it and keep hold of their title but at the same time there were questions about them because of how badly their 50 over title defence went. The early consensus is that they are slightly better than they were in India but they still have a lot to prove as we head into the serious part of the tournament. England will point out that rain hasn’t helped them look good but to date all they have to show for their efforts are wins over Oman and Namibia.
They are going to have to raise their game but where they will get confidence is here in St Lucia the pitch looks like the best batting track in the tournament and that is generally where England thrive the most. That batting will need to come good because the bowling in this event, save for a game against Oman who were just out of their depth, has gone the distance and so either the bowlers stand up here or the batters are going to need to go very big.
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Team News
Romario Shepherd missed the last game for West Indies to be at the birth of his child but he is expected back into the setup for this match and is likely to replace Obed McCoy. Roston Chase could come back for Shai Hope.
England have a fitness doubt over Liam Livingstone who seemed to pull up with a side issue against Namibia. Will Jacks is the man who is expected to return in his place while Chris Jordan could miss out after an illness in the lead up to the game.
Betting
There is certainly a case to be made that West Indies are value at even money when we assess the form of the two sides so far but there is no need to overthink this and trust to a bit of luck. This is going to be a high scoring match. The two batting units are capable of destroying any bowling attack in the competition and the two matches we have seen here so far have been hugely high scoring. Scotland put up 180/5 on this ground against Australia so I’m expecting the runs to flow here.
The question as always when that is the case is how to play that situation and the 41.5 boundaries line is the way in for me. I looked at the sixes line but actually England have hit a much higher percentage of fours than sixes in this tournament to date so just in case that happens again I’ll have that covered. So far on this ground we have had 43 boundaries and 42 with the latter game having a second innings of 114 and I don’t see either side getting rolled for that here. West Indies played in that second game and hit 28 boundaries and if they are anywhere near that total again England can oblige in covering the line.
Tips
Back Over 41.5 boundaries for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
