34 matches have come and gone and now just one remains. On Sunday England and the West Indies will compete in the T20 World Cup final with both looking to become the first two time winner of the tournament.
These two sides have already met in the tournament in Mumbai right back at the beginning of it. West Indies prevailed on that occasion and will be looking to do likewise here. England have gone from strength to strength since that defeat and will be looking to show that one more time here.
England
In fairness to Eoin Morgan’s men they ran into a Chris Gayle blitz when these two met in Mumbai but they followed that up with a fantastic run chase to see off South Africa and then held their nerve against Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. They proved far too good for New Zealand in the semi-final courtesy of another wonderful bowling performance.
There were a couple of illnesses in the camp after the semi-final but everyone has trained so it looks like England will name another unchanged side unless there is a last minute illness or injury.
West Indies
The group stage was such a cruise for the West Indies that they could even afford to lose to Afghanistan in their final pool match and still qualify as group winners. The fact they were celebrating Afghanistan’s win with them said everything we needed to know about their motivation in that match.
Going into the tournament all the talk was about how well the Windies would do if something happened to Chris Gayle or if he didn’t fire at any point. Johnson Charles, Lendl Simmons and Andre Russell answered those questions emphatically in a pinpoint run chase against India in the semi-final and this West Indian side look every bit the part as they look to emulate the class of 2012.
With Andre Fletcher ruled out of the tournament we can expect Darren Sammy’s men to be unchanged for this final unless there is a late illness or injury which hasn’t been made public knowledge.
Eden Gardens
Quite rightly the final will be staged at the iconic Eden Gardens. The 2011 World Cup final should have been here but it was held in Mumbai instead and that hasn’t been forgotten in these parts. The match is sold out and even a tragedy of a bridge collapse in the run up to the final hasn’t dented the enthusiasm of this match too much.
This will be the fifth match of the tournament on this ground. Neither England nor the West Indies have played here before in the competition so there is no advantage for one side or the other there.
The wicket did become tired as the group matches went on but a final of this kind with the eyes of the world on the place should see a decent wicket prepared and indeed both captains have mentioned there is plenty of grass on the deck which should provide the pace and bounce we require for the fireworks to ensue.
Bets
Those who took our outright advice and backed the West Indies to win this tournament will be sitting pretty right now. The place part of the bet has already landed and the West Indies are odds on to win this match. I think that is justified too. I favour them in this final but I’ve no need to go in again.
I do like the look of the sixes here though. We saw just how much damage the West Indies’ batsmen can do with the willow in the semi-final and while the Wankhede isn’t the biggest ground known to man none of those sixes struggled over the rope. Many of them went deep into the stands.
We know England bat a long way down. David Willey has been on the scorecards at number 10 at times in the tournament and he has a century to his name in this format. The likes of Jason Roy, Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes can cause real carnage at any time too.
Eden Gardens isn’t the smallest ground especially straight where England in particular look to hit their big shots and if the wicket is as solid and as true as the captains think it is we should see the runs flow here. I’m happy with over 12.5 sixes in this one.
There will be a match winner at some point in this game and while there are a number of potential candidates to perform the key role I suspect India might have done the West Indies a favour in playing Andre Russell back into form in the semi-final.
Russell has bowled well throughout the entire tournament but his batting came to the fore in the semi-final and he can be pretty streaky with the bat as we’ve seen in many other domestic competitions.
This is Russell’s home ground in the Indian Premier League so he’ll know the wicket, he’ll know where to target his boundaries with the bat and where to bowl with the ball in his hand. Throw into the mix that he’s a demon fielder and this truly high class three dimensional cricketer should have a major impact on this final. He’s 12/1 to be the man of the match which looks juicy enough to me.
Tips
Back 13 or more sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
Back them here:
Back A.Russell Man of the Match for a 1/10 stake at 13.00 with Ladbrokes
Back him here:
