A professional performance from England in the first ODI of the series on Friday has set up the opportunity for them to win the series with a match to spare when they take on the West Indies in the second ODI on Sunday.
Once again Antigua is the venue for this second match of the series which the home side go into knowing they must win to keep the series alive.
West Indies
There were spells of the first match where the West Indies were pretty competitive but ultimately they lacked the depth and the poise to get over the line and that is something Stuart Law will have to get into his side if they are to improve in this format of the game. They need to make sure they are sensible with the bat when the need arises.
The other issue facing the Caribbean men is their bowling for the entire 50 overs. They bowled pretty well for the first 25-30 overs on Friday but then England got away from them at the death and that was pretty much it despite a spirited effort with the bat. A better platform at the top of the innings would help things.
England
Eoin Morgan and the England coaching staff will possibly have been more pleased with their performance in the first game than if they had played on a road and smashed 450 and won. They showed some savvy and some intelligence and that hasn’t always been something you would accustom England with in this format of the game.
All of the focus has been on England’s batting in 50 over cricket for a while now but just quietly they are forming a nice bowling attack which has options and depth and which can take wickets against any side. There are still question marks at the death of an innings but there isn’t much more to work on aside from that.
Team News
West Indies have Rovman Powell on the sidelines ready to come into the side but there is a feeling that the team which played in the first game will be given the chance to grow so they could be unchanged.
England will make a decision on Alex Hales’ availability before naming their side but the form of Sam Billings means they don’t need to take any risks with the Nottinghamshire man if he isn’t fully fit.
Betting
With this match being played on the very same track as the first ODI was played on we know what we’re going to get now. We’ll get a slow and sluggish pitch which is likely to really turn the longer this one goes on and with that in mind I fancy we might get a lower scoring game than we’re used to here.
We only saw 50 boundaries in the opening match on Friday and it is hard to see many more being hit here given that the first game was actually a fairly high scoring match for this ground. With the boundaries line at 52.5 in this match and the strong chance that batting in the second innings will be really tough I’ll go under that total.
I’m also going to chance Adil Rashid to be the top England bowler in the match. He has the leggie and the wrong’un working well so whether he is bowling at left or right handers he isn’t going to be massively inconvenienced. The seamers will be a threat as ever but if England bowl second Rashid could run riot.
Tips
WON – Back Under 52.5 boundaries for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
Back it here:
Back A.Rashid Top England Bowler for a 2/10 stake at 4.50 with Ladbrokes
Back him here:
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