The West Indies have the chance to do something they’ve not managed since 2014 on Sunday and that is to beat an established nation in an ODI series. After a miraculous escape to win the opening match of the three game series on Friday they head into the second match on Sunday knowing a win will seal a historic triumph.
All isn’t lost for Pakistan as they can still win the series by winning the last two matches but they will have needed to get over a disappointing loss very quickly if they are to deliver the goods here and force a decider.
West Indies
We shouldn’t deny West Indies the chance to feel positive about themselves after a win in the first match of the series but at the same time if they are to improve throughout the course of time they will also need to recognise that for 90 overs of the match they were heavily outplayed and more often than not they will lose with those performances.
As it was they had kept enough wickets in hand in the first match to explode into life in the last 15 overs of the run chase and when they turned the screw they soon found the bowling to their liking. They gained momentum quickly at that point and never surrendered it – something which they deserve credit for.
Pakistan
We will see what Pakistan are made of in this match. I’m hoping from their point of view that they are smarting from the loss on Friday and come out fighting here even though they probably still haven’t come to terms with the fact that they lost that match given the control they have for it for such long periods.
I don’t know whether they got complacent when they put up such a large total or whether their bowlers just had a bad day at the office but they won’t need to be told that bowling efforts like that just don’t get the job done at this level. I’m sure Sarfraz Ahmed will have pointed out exactly that to his bowlers.
Team News
Although they were poor for much of the first ODI, the West Indies did get the win and that might mean they resist the temptation to change their side too dramatically. They could be unchanged.
Pakistan might look to rotate their bowling attack to find the best options especially at the death where they were absolutely carted in the first game. With that in mind Junaid Khan would be an obvious man to bring in.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Providence Stadium
The wicket for the first ODI was one of the best we’ve seen at Providence and the scores reflected that. All the indication is that the square is playing like the wicket in the first game so maybe we can expect another high scoring match here. Spinners could come into it a little more though.
Betting
While I still think Pakistan will win this match the way the West Indies won from nowhere in that opening game has muddied the waters enough to present little value on the tourists in this match but at the same time I can’t take them on.
I will go with one bet though and it will come in the form of the player performances where I think the line of Ashley Nurse is a touch on the low side at 31.5. In the first ODI he had this line covered with the ball and then the bat with 80pts with the ball and 34 with the bat so the potential to cover this line is immediately there.
The wicket is likely to assist the spin a little more in this match and Nurse’s batting heroics might even see him go up the order. However he does it I like the overs on this performance line I must say.
Tips
WON – Back A.Nurse’s Performance – Over 31.5pts for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2017
