The final ODI between West Indies and England takes place on Saturday when the two sides move from Grenada to St Lucia for what will be the deciding match of the five, and if the first four are anything to go by we should be in for a great game of cricket.
England won a high scoring fourth match in Grenada on Wednesday so they know they can no longer lose the series. West Indies head into this final game knowing they must win in order to get a share of the series.
Sign up to 888sport before the Merseyside Derby kicks off to get 33/1 on Everton to win OR 7/1 on Liverpool to win. Click the banner above to bet. Use code 888ODDS. 18+ T&Cs apply. New accounts only
West Indies
It is never good to have regrets in sport but I wonder if the West Indies do regret how that previous match played out. As stupid as it sounds when they were chasing 419, the West Indies will know that they should have won the match given the position that they got themselves into. Ultimately they were unable to hold their nerve and get over the line but credit must go to them for pushing it so close.
It goes without saying that they are going to have to bowl a whole lot better in this match than they did in that one, but if they can find a way to restrict England slightly, then we’ve seen throughout the series that they have a batting line up which is firing nicely and can put up the sort of scores that are required to win games at this level in this format.
England
Credit must also go to England for holding their nerve in the previous match but they will know that they might have got away with one because for much of the West Indies run chase it looked like Eoin Morgan’s men were not going to defend the 418 they posted. Therefore I would imagine the focus will have been on delivering a much better bowling performance in this match, for confidence and peace of mind as much as anything else.
On the flip side of that though, England have gone beyond 360 twice in this series and they have done it with consummate ease too. This is an extremely powerful batting line up and they are using this series to make the rest of the world stand up and see the form they are in, heading into what suddenly looks like a competitive World Cup later in the summer.
Team News
West Indies chose not to risk Andre Russell in the fourth ODI but there is no way he is going to be left out of a match of this kind. Originally he was likely to come in for Carlos Brathwaite but now you would imagine it is Devendra Bishoo or Oshane Thomas who he replaces.
You wouldn’t think there is a need for England to risk Jason Roy in this one so their only change might be a switch with the ball. Tom Curran will be looking to come into the side while David Willey is another option. Chris Woakes might not be pushed.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Betting
We saw an incredible 46 sixes in Grenada on Wednesday and now we move to St Lucia where in the Caribbean Premier League the wicket was the best to bat on in the entire competition so I am expecting plenty more fireworks to round off what has been one of the highest scoring series that I can remember in recent times.
The sixes line has increased from 14.5 to 18.5 for this match but I’m far from convinced that is high enough based on what we’ve seen previously and the fact that the wicket here is so true for batting. In five CPL matches here there were 89 sixes and one of those matches saw 69 playing 70. Ironically 48 of the 139 runs in that match came in sixes too. My point is this ground is set up for big hitting and I don’t expect these two teams to disappoint in that regard.
Tips
Back Over 18.5 sixes for a 5/10 stake at 1.85 with 888sport
Back it here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2019
