While England and India are doing battle at Lord’s, West Indies and Pakistan will begin a Test series in Jamaica with both sides having the opportunity to earn points for the new World Test Championship campaign.
These two sides flattered to deceive in the opening staging of that competition but the fact it met its conclusion to decent effect is likely to have both these teams wanting to be a part of the upper end of proceedings this time around. That makes this a big match for both teams.
West Indies
The overall focus of West Indies cricket in recent years has been on the T20 format which they have excelled in for the most part but you sense that they want to get back to their halcyon days in Test cricket as well and so these are two big matches for them if they are going to do that. While Pakistan will be competitive they are not one of the big four if you add New Zealand to that band as the current champions in this format.
If West Indies are going to get back to where most cricket judges would like them to be then they are going to have to find a settled batting line up that delivers the goods. The other thing they need to do is start preparing wickets that suit their side and get rid of the low, slow turgid pitches that so many Tests end up getting played on in this part of the world. They have plenty of seam bowlers but don’t give them the conditions to work in.
Pakistan
I would imagine Pakistan would have been disappointed with their showing in the first World Test Championship but there is no doubting the stars have aligned for them to prosper this time around with their away series being this one, in Bangladesh and in Sri Lanka, neither of whom are much of a threat in the longer format of the game. If they can deliver the goods in home conditions you would expect Pakistan to be there or thereabouts come the end of this cycle.
I guess in a lot of ways the same thing faces Pakistan in that they need to maintain a settled batting line up and that unit then needs to deliver the goods. To be fair to them they look to have the first bit sorted. They now need runs to come with it. The positive for Pakistan is that whatever the conditions are that they are playing in, they have a bowling attack that can prosper in them so they’ll be expecting to win this series.
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Team News
West Indies have named Nkrumah Bonner in the squad on his home ground but there is surprisingly no place for Rakheem Cornwall with Jomel Warrican the man assigned the task of offering up the spin option along with Roston Chase.
Pakistan are believed to be tempted to play the second spinner here but that might leave their tail a little exposed so Fawad Alam could turn his arm over should more spin be needed and the all-round qualities of Faheem Ashraf utilised too.
Betting
There is a lot of rain around in this match unfortunately so I don’t really want to get involved in too many bets but the 13/8 on Yasir Shah taking more than 2.5 first innings wickets is a little too big to ignore. He has a brilliant record against West Indies, taking 46 wickets in the six matches he has played against them including five hauls of five wickets or more and another innings where he has taken four wickets. A couple of those have come in the first innings so he isn’t averse to getting stuck in from the off.
The wicket at Sabina Park in recent times has offered plenty for the spinner and West Indies as a general rule don’t play wrist spin all that well in red ball cricket. Even a military finger spinner like Keshav Maharaj took seven wickets against them in their last Test match which highlights their woes against spin. Given that the pitch is likely to suit him nicely here I’ll take Yasir to bag three scalps in the first innings in this one.
Tips
Back Y.Shah – Over 2.5 first innings wickets for a 3/10 stake at 2.63 with Coral
Back him here:
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