We are at the business end of the T20 series between West Indies and England and with the quality having increased in all three matches so far, the fourth match in Barbados on Saturday should be quite some spectacle between two very watchable sides.
West Indies now hold a 2-1 lead in the series after their win on Wednesday so they have two chances at winning the series, the first of which comes here. The equation is pretty simple for England now. They must win the last two games to claim the series.
West Indies
We have seen West Indies go through the gears so far in this series with the bat in hand but they’ll do better to bat better than they did in the third game. The partnership between Rovman Powell and Nicholas Pooran was as effective as it was brutal and those two, along with a number of others in this West Indies batting unit, can put the bowlers under the sort of pressure which can lead to mistakes very quickly. If one or two other gun batters can fire as well this will be a fearsome West Indies side.
There are still improvements to make with the ball for West Indies but when you consider the calibre of bowlers they are missing and the fantastic pitch they bowled on in the last game it is hard to be too critical. Moving forward they would like to be more efficient at the death because waywardness there could be costly but at least this series is allowing Kieron Pollard to see who is up to performing that role and who isn’t.
England
After levelling the series in the second match, England will be disappointed to surrender the advantage once again, although the chaotic build up to the last game can’t have been easy so I do think they deserve a little bit of slack. Losing the captain and having to rejig everything within 30 minutes of the toss isn’t an easy thing to do and then the rain came and made everything even more chaotic so I will cut them some slack.
Where they can’t be given any sympathy though is their bowling when West Indies go at them. In the second game it was the last five overs which got carted when the Caribbean boys went on the attack and in the third game it was the middle 10 overs. England need to identify these moments and utilise their variety instead of bowling to fields and missing their lengths and going the distance. The positive from that third game was a couple of star young batters stood up and scored runs despite the scoreboard pressure.
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Team News
West Indies don’t need to change too much but you’ve got to think Shai Hope needs a score soon else he will be under pressure. If the patience has run out then Kyle Mayers could come into the side with Nicholas Pooran taking the gloves.
England have confirmed that Eoin Morgan will miss the remainder of the series through injury so Moeen Ali will captain the side again. You would imagine the bowlers will be rotated once again with Chris Jordan returning. Sam Billings is also said to be fit so Harry Brook might have to wait for a second game in England colours.
Betting
As the pitches are getting better in this series so is the batting and that is a trend I expect to continue in this match. The scores are gradually going up and up although to be fair that first game was probably an anomaly anyway when you consider it was only the second hit England had in the Caribbean since landing. The fact West Indies just cruised to the total one down with three overs to spare in that match suggests there was plenty more in the tank if it was needed.
The one thing we have seen throughout the series is that the innings isn’t over until all the players are out or the overs are up. Already in this series England’s number nine has an innings of 22 and the West Indies number 10 has 44*. The depth in these two sides is unreal and being honest both bowling attacks leave a bit to be desired and look to be getting weaker not better so I expect another run fest and a match which sails beyond 318.5 runs.
Tips
WON – Back Over 318.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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