The T20 series between West Indies and Australia continues on Monday evening when the two sides once again head to the Daren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia for the third match in the five game affair, with the home side looking to seal the series at the first opportunity.
They went 2-0 up with a second win on Saturday evening and a third one here would have the series won. Australia have to win to stay alive in the series, although obviously the overriding aim for both teams is to continue their preparation for the upcoming World T20.
West Indies
The second game saw a much better performance from West Indies than the opening one. It was dominant from start to finish. They weren’t perfect with the bat but they were a lot better than in that first game. They can still rotate the strike a little bit more but they found the nous in the middle of the innings that I called for and were rewarded for that at the end when their power hitters were able to explode and get them up to a very daunting score.
The one area where they continue to thrive in this series is with the ball and the particular appeal there is that it is the spinners who were causing much of the damage. They are going to need to find some quality spinners to take to the UAE with them particularly if Sunil Narine doesn’t get himself sorted in time. They look to be sorting out those positions which certainly bodes well for a West Indies side which has the talent to retain their title.
Australia
There are clearly some issues forming in this Australia side right now and although alarm bells won’t be ringing completely just yet there are problems to sort out. The main one they have if they are going to get anything out of this series is they simply have to play spin a lot better than they have in the first two matches. They have collapsed dramatically to spin on both occasions and they will need to be much better than that come the World T20 with spin likely to dominate that tournament.
They do still have key batsmen to come back into the side but even so this inability to play quality spin is nothing new and they need to sort it if they are to have the success they crave. In the main they have gone ok with the ball in this series. You always have to cut a bowling attack some slack when it is playing West Indies because their batsmen can be fearful and brutal when they get going. Australia are desperate for someone to knock the ball around and not want to smash everything for six.
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Team News
Fidel Edwards sustained an arm injury in the second match which means he is likely to miss this match. Obed McCoy could come back into the side but Oshane Thomas has been included in the squad for this match so he could also come in.
Australia are clearly going to need to make changes. There is a suggestion that they will strengthen their pace department in which case the likes of Andrew Tye or Jason Behrendorff could come in. They either need to open with Josh Philippe or not play him because he looks completely out of sync in the middle order. Alex Carey or Ashton Turner are better options.
Betting
I’ve taken over 14.5 sixes in both the previous matches and there have been 15 on both occasions despite the Australian batting not really batting a proper 20 overs in either game. I still don’t see a reason to abandon that bet because eventually Australia will get their middle order right and when they do they will contribute plenty to the six hitting on what is a small ground. I repeat what I said in the previous game about the pitches. They won’t tire and dry out as much here because of the dew in the evenings.
I like the over here because both sides are probably going to begin rotating their bowlers with this being the third match in four nights so the loose balls should come a little more regularly. This is still a line that West Indies can cover on their own on a going night. They hit 13 in the previous game and left a couple of out there but with Australian likely to contribute more and with the pitches starting to move away from the middle of the square, and the wind always assisting the ball to fly in one direction, I expect the sixes to keep coming along here.
Tips
Back Over 14.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with Betfair
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