The T20 series between West Indies and Australia concludes in St Lucia on Friday evening and it does so with both teams looking to take another win with them on their way to the World T20, which we now know they will battle it out in during the Super 12 stage of that competition.
Australia salvaged some pride when they held their nerve to win the fourth match on Wednesday but West Indies have long since won the series. They will be looking to add some glass to the overall score with a win here.
West Indies
West Indies weren’t at their best in the previous game. They allowed Australia to get away from them in the first 10 overs when they had the ball in hand. If you wanted to be kind to them then you could argue that the two rain stoppages never helped them but you would be being kind were you to suggest that. It looked like a bowling performance that knew there was no competitive edge on the proceedings, although to be fair Australia had more intent about them than at any other point.
West Indies almost got themselves out of trouble with the bat but they couldn’t quite get over the line in the final over despite the heroics of Fabian Allen in the over prior to the last one. That defeat might be no bad thing for West Indies though as it can act as a reminder that they can’t afford to get sloppy when it really matters as they can come up short. They are likely to be much more on it for this final game given that there are ODIs to come.
Australia
I guess after the beatings they took in recent matches, Australia deserve a lot of credit for the way they came back and won the fourth game. There was nothing on it in terms of competitive edge or anything but it does show that they still have some professional pride about them and that is important. If they can win this match as well then the T20 leg of the tour won’t be as forgettable as it looked like being after the third match.
The big thing for Australia in that fourth game was how they showed a lot more intent with the bat. That immediately had the right result for a couple of reasons. The first is that it got the West Indies bowlers thinking and the second thing it did meant that they weren’t having to try to catch up against the spinners which is where they had come unstuck previously. They still aren’t bowling as well as you would expect an Australian side to do but they did get the job done in the last game.
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Team News
Injuries are beginning to catch up with West Indies and with an ODI series beginning at the weekend they might choose to sit those out who need a rest which might see Shimron Hetmyer replaced by Dwayne Bravo. That would boost the bowling without having too much effect on the batting.
Australia have yet to get Andrew Tye, Wes Agar and Mitch Swepson into their side and this is a long way to come to carry the drinks so they might look to rotate them into the team. Riley Meredith and Mitchell Starc could come out of the side.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets which I have played throughout the series so far here. The first of those is for there to be more than 14.5 sixes. This let me down in the third game when Australia showed absolutely no intent whatsoever but we saw that change in the previous game and that bodes well for the sixes here. There ended up being 21 of them in that match and Chris Gayle didn’t hit a single one so there is still more to come in that department. West Indies aren’t going to change their way and Australia have finally found some intent so the sixes should flow nicely here.
I’ll also take Hayden Walsh Jr to be the top West Indies wicket taker once again. He added three more to his collection on Wednesday evening in another top wicket effort from him, the third match in a row he has taken the most wickets for the home side. I don’t see that changing here because Australia just aren’t picking him so if they do need to get after him he has them right where he wants them. Even if they can sit on him he has the skills to get the batsmen down the pitch and fizz it past the edge. 7/2 is still too big given how well Australia have played him in the series.
Tips
Back Over 14.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Betfair
Back it here:
Back H.Walsh Jr Top West Indies Bowler for a 2/10 stake at 4.50 with William Hill
Back him here:
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