The T20 series between West Indies and England heads to Trinidad for the penultimate game on Tuesday evening when the two sides meet in the fourth match with the hosts looking to finally get their hands on the overall spoils.
West Indies have already seen one chance to win the series come and go and they get a second one here. England will be looking to pick up a second consecutive win to take the series into a deciding match later in the week.
West Indies
Having won the first two matches and absolutely filled their boots in the final four overs of the third match to post 222/6, West Indies could be forgiven for thinking that they were about to win the series. Things didn’t materialise in that fashion though and now they need to get themselves into a similar position once again. You would imagine West Indies would rather be chasing with their batting depth, but if they are going to win the World Cup next summer they’ll need to be able to defend totals.
The one thing that we know about West Indies is towards the back end of any batting innings they can be absolutely brutal. Where they need to be better is with the new ball and they have to hold their nerve at the back end of the innings when they bowl. They don’t really have what you would call a top quality death bowler so if they don’t squeeze sides in the middle or take wickets up front you do feel for them a little.
England
You couldn’t exactly call it a perfect performance from England in the last game but they are on the board for the series and they did win the game in the manner we would expect them to, with explosive batting in a unit which takes the game to the bowling. They had been caught a little mixed in their intent both in the ODI matches prior to this series and in the first two games. Whether it was the back to the wall situation they were in which brought their best batting out only they will know but they will hope it stays here.
The one thing England have done throughout the series is slow West Indies down in the middle overs. That has been critical because if West Indies get away in that period then with the power they possess at the back end of the innings things get messy rather quickly. What they need to do is try and find a combination which at the very least takes wickets at the death even if they can’t keep the scoring rate down around that.
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Team News
West Indies have made a couple of changes to their squad for the remainder of the series. They have seen enough from Shimron Hetmyer and Alzarri Joseph and will have a look at Johnson Charles and Oshane Thomas in the last two games.
England might decide to go into this match unchanged given that they won last time out but their bowling still needs some work done to it so this might be the time for them to have a look at John Turner for the first time.
Betting
We move to the Brian Lara Stadium for this match and while this wasn’t always the highest scoring ground in the CPL last season, I do think we have to temper that a level because those sides competing in that tournament do not have the fearsome power and depth that these two teams have. In that competition the spinners had plenty to say in matches but teams can attack the spinners because they have seasoned batters coming in at eight and nine.
That makes me think it is worth sticking with the bat that I took in the previous game which is the West Indies to hit more than 9.5 sixes. They hit 16 of them in that match despite both of their openers being dismissed within the first nine balls of the innings so that in itself tells us there is more to come from them. West Indies have covered this line throughout the series and that isn’t a surprise given their batting depth and the weakness of the England attack. I expect a lot more of the same here.
Tips
Back West Indies – Over 9.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with Betway
