Both West Indies and England will be off in search of a victory to open up the ODI series when it begins in Barbados on Wednesday, which should ensure we get a competitive opener to proceedings after three largely one-sided Test matches.
A five match series in its own right is a good thing for us fans and with the World Cup just 100 days away there should be an extra edge to the next couple of weeks which certainly can’t be a bad thing for the series as a whole.
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West Indies
The Caribbean men shocked England when they won the Test series and they will be out to do that again in a format of the game which they have struggled in over the last five years. There is no doubt in my mind that when they have everyone that is available to them around, they can be a decent unit once again, but if that time will come and when it will do so remains to be seen.
If West Indies are going to win this opening match then they are going to need to bowl well. They won’t need to be told that, it is pretty obvious given that England are so strong with the bat in this format of the game. If they can bowl well then they have the dynamism with the bat to put up scores over 300 which makes them competitive.
England
England were embarrassing in the Test matches, especially the two which they lost, so they will know that they need to be much better here. They will be better. This is much their strongest suit these days and they are a much more confident unit as a result. That confidence should see them going at West Indies in this match and usually when under pressure, in recent times at least, West Indies have cracked.
England will also have to bowl well in this opening match because although West Indies are struggling for 50 over form currently, they have some of the most dangerous batsmen in the world at their disposal. The one area where we can pretty much rely on England in this format is with the bat, that is for their depth as well as their top order quality.
Team News
West Indies are without Evin Lewis and Andre Russell for this match but Chris Gayle has made himself available for the series. Jason Holder returns from the suspension of the final Test but Shannon Gabriel begins his.
England are expected to bring Jos Buttler back in after he missed the warm up match. Jonny Bairstow is likely to open alongside Jason Roy with Tom Curran and David Willey looking like the seamers to sit out.
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Betting
I’m going to ease my way into the series just to see how West Indies go in it as much as anything else and with that in mind I’ll go with just the one bet. I’m not going to take the match outcome just in case the Test matches were not a flash in the pan for the home side, although I readily admit that ‘m expecting England to win the contest.
I also expect a number of sixes to be hit between two sides who love nothing more than to pin their ears back and let the ball fly. They look to have the ideal conditions to do that with this pitch in Barbados the best in the Caribbean and not exactly the longest boundaries either. There is power everywhere you look in these line ups and over the course of the day I’m expecting to see more than 10.5 sixes.
Tips
WON – Back Over 10.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Betway
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