The opening match of the West Indies Tri Series sees the hosts taking on South Africa in Guyana on Friday night. Both sides will want to get off to a fast start and if the assumption is to be made that one of these two will face Australia in the final then this is the first of three big matches to decide the fate of the two teams.
West Indies
You’d like to think that the West Indies will go into this tournament on a high after winning the World T20 a couple of months ago but there is far too much inner wrestling in the hierarchy for that to be the case and actually it is pretty sad that us neutrals are denied the chance to see the likes of Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy and Andre Russell.
If the Windies needed a wake up in this format of the game it should have come when they saw the schedule released for next year’s Champions Trophy which doesn’t include them because they have fallen away so badly that they haven’t qualified for the tournament which for a side containing the potential personnel they do is almost unthinkable.
South Africa
South Africa might not have got out of the group stage in the T20 World Cup but I’m not sure they did too much wrong in the tournament so I don’t think that would have affected them too much. A more relevant form guide would be the fact they were semi-finalists in the World Cup of this format just over 12 months ago.
It is to their credit with all the cricket they have played this year already that South Africa have taken their first choice squad to the Caribbean in the main and it shows how important this tournament is to them so we should be expecting them to be hard at it in both this match and the ones to come.
Team news
Sunil Narine will make a return to international cricket in this match. He should be well suited to the Guyana conditions. Carlos Brathwaite is likely to be in the side which will be led again by Jason Holder. Darren Bravo is back having missed the World T20.
South Africa are without Faf du Plessis who is still recovering from the injury which kept him out of the IPL. Rilee Rossouw is likely to come in for him. The other selection issue is whether to go with a barrage of seamers or play the extra spinner in Aaron Phangiso. If they choose the latter option Kyle Abbott could be vulnerable.
Providence Stadium
The stadium in Guyana is hosting its 14th ODI in this match. The West Indies have a mixed record here with four wins and four defeats from eight matches while South Africa have played here three times and have recorded two wins.
This is generally a low scoring ground. The wicket often plays slow and low and can be tricky for the batsmen. The bowlers, especially the slow bowlers, are usually always in the game on this ground which actually makes for better cricket a lot of the time.
Betting
This isn’t an easy match to bet on in many ways. We don’t truly know how the West Indies are going to line up or indeed what frame of mind they are win without their bigger names and really we’ve not seen South Africa for a while either so I’m approaching this match with an air of caution particularly on this ground which can play tough. With that in mind I’ll go with a performance and a top batsmen to begin with.
The performance belongs to Carlos Brathwaite who I fancy to have a big series. He might be the anomaly to the norm on this ground in that although the seamers might struggle on the sluggish deck he has the frame to get bounce out of a pudding and the pace to force batsmen into mistakes and with the likes of Sammy, Russell and Bravo not here Brathwaite is likely to have a much bigger role with the ball.
We know what he can do with the bat. We’ve seen it a few times now both in the T20 World Cup and in the IPL and we’ve also seen that he’s a pretty decent fielder too so there isn’t too many times that Brathwaite isn’t going to be in the game. With all that in mind a performance line of just 29pts looks a few too low to me.
Some bookmakers seem to have responded to the news that du Plessis isn’t playing in this match and some haven’t. The ones who have taken note have shortened the odds of Rilee Rossouw but the ones who haven’t are offering plenty of value on him.
Rossouw looks set to bat at three in the game with AB de Villiers coming in after him which is a boost to his chances of top scoring but what I really like is his record against the West Indies. The South African batsman has two ODI tons in his career and both came against this opponent last year so if he picks up where he left off in that series he’s going to be a real runner here.
At 9/1 I can’t resist a small bet on Rossouw in the hope he gets in and enjoys what this Windies attack has to offer once again.
Tips
WON – Back C.Brathwaite’s Performance Pts – 29&Over for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back it here:
WON – Back R.Rossouw Top South Africa Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 10.00 with Paddy Power
Back him here:
