When the West Indies and Pakistan meet in the first of three ODIs in Guyana on Friday they do so with a lot more than just a three match series on the line. Only eight sides automatically qualify for the next World Cup and these two sides rank eighth and ninth in the rankings so there is plenty on the line here.
This is now a series that neither team can afford to lose and with both fully aware of the situation we should be in for some extremely competitive cricket both in this opening match and the two to follow.
West Indies
The West Indies have been pretty poor in this format of the game for far too long. I expected them to show an improvement with Jimmy Adams at the helm and Stuart Law coaching the side but that hasn’t happened yet. Disputes with the hierarchy are never far away and it shows what their stars think of things when they’ve packed their bags for the IPL.
That has left quite a hole for the Caribbean men to fill. In fairness they had problems prior to those players leaving. They were well beaten in an ODI series by England recently and Pakistan dominated much of the recent T20 series between these two so the West Indies have a lot of thinking to do going forward.
Pakistan
It was a surprise to see Pakistan in the doldrums in this format of the game a little while ago but they are starting to come out the other side of it and a win in this series would boost them significantly going forward where they have the Champions Trophy to come in England in the summer, a tournament they are more than capable of winning at their best.
Whenever Pakistan put out a limited overs side you know it is going to have a solid bowling attack and that is no different here. As ever the question will be whether they can bat well but the extra time in this format as opposed to the T20 should help their style of batsmen. Pakistan definitely begin as worthy favourites.
Team News
West Indies will be without the likes of Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine and Carlos Brathwaite. Kraigg Brathwaite has been dropped with Chadwick Walton coming in to open the batting.
Reinforcements have arrived for Pakistan with Mohammad Amir and Junaid Khan probably the chief of them. Both could go into the side although with the wicket suiting spinners Pakistan could play a spinner over one of them.
Providence Stadium
This will be the 17th time an ODI has been held on this ground. West Indies have played in 10 of the previous 16 with five wins and five defeats. Pakistan have a win and two defeats here which is a little surprising.
This pitch suits the spinners. The ball stays low and the wicket takes turn and it isn’t easy for the batsmen to score on at all. That is highlighted by the fact that only once in those 16 matches has more than 270 been scored. Expect a low scoring, turgid affair here.
Betting
Given that I’m expecting a low scoring match here it makes sense for the bet to be for the highest individual score to be under 92.5 runs. This score hasn’t been reached by an individual in the last seven ODIs here and seeing how both teams batted in the T20s I’m not expecting it to be eclipsed in this match especially given the difficulty of scoring.
I’m also going to chance Pakistan on the handicap here. Their bowling attack, the spin options especially, look very strong and West Indies’ batting line up looks so flimsy it is untrue. If the seamers don’t get any joy the spinners certainly should and I’m expecting Pakistan to open this series with a fairly comfortable win.
I chanced Jason Mohammad a couple of times in the top West Indian batting market recently and I see no reason not to do so again. He has shown he can play spin and has an appetite to score runs and a technique to do it which many of his teammates don’t have. At 6/1 just about enough value remains in him.
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West Indies vs Pakistan – Tips
WON – Back Highest Individual Score – Under 92.5 runs for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with Bet365
Back Pakistan (-4.5wickets/25.5runs) to win 1st ODI for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back them here:
WON – Back J.Mohammad Top West Indies Batsman for a 1/10 stake at 7.00 with Ladbrokes
Back him here:
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