Two potential challengers at the T20 World Cup next month begin their final preparations for the tournament on Thursday evening when the hosts West Indies go up against South Africa in the first of three T20 matches in Jamaica.
The two will be competing to beat each other over the next few days but with that World Cup now just over a week away there will also be an element of looking ahead to the tournament, despite both teams missing some big players.
West Indies
You get the impression that West Indies have been waiting a while for this tournament to come around. They weren’t even in the 50 over World Cup at the back end of 2023 and bombed out tamely in the last two stagings of this event so they have had to wait a while to put things right and show they are better than recent times. The one thing we do know about West Indies is when it clicks they can be brutal in this format and in home conditions excitement around them is rightfully high.
We know West Indies are going to be brutal with the bat in the upcoming World Cup. One reason why they struggled in Australia was the size of the grounds where hitting everything for six wasn’t a strategy that held up. Venues are much smaller in this part of the world and every West Indies batter can hit the ball out of the park. That means if they can find a couple of death bowlers to deliver on the occasions things get tight they are going to be tough to beat.
South Africa
While West Indies have flattered to deceive in the last few tournaments, South Africa have done it throughout their history but there is a real feeling that they have their best chance of global silverware in the coming weeks with the right balance between power, depth and good bowling offering up more than just hope that they can finally bring home silverware. That will need them to put the past behind them and concentrate on the here and now though.
This will be a fringe South Africa side competing in this match because the likes of Aidan Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, Marco Jansen, Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada are all either recovering from injury or their IPL exertions. With that in mind, it is hard to see just how much they can get out of these three matches but those who will be involved in the World Cup do at least get a few outings in conditions similar to what will be found at that tournament.
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Team News
West Indies will be without a whole raft of players who will be involved at the World Cup with Shai Hope, Rovman Powell, Nicholas Pooran, Andre Russell and Shimron Hetmyer among those missing here. Johnson Charles could do with finding some form.
South Africa will also be without their captain with Aidan Markram still in India. They will also be missing Heinrich Klaasen, Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada and others for this series. Quinton de Kock will be keen to find some form after a poor IPL.
Betting
I can’t help but think that the prices for this match have been based on the T20 World Cup squads because I don’t see West Indies being huge outsiders for this. South Africa look very light on batting and one of their star performers, Quinton de Kock, is in no form at all, whereas West Indies, while they could do with their star players around, still have enough batting to potentially have Akeal Hosein down at eight so they definitely have an edge there.
I think South Africa do have an edge with the ball but at the same time they have some seamers who could easily go around the park if this West Indies line up gets hold of them. The other thing in the West Indies favour is they will know conditions and be used to them whereas South Africa might take a few overs to get used to things having been in other parts of the world. In home conditions and with still enough players to get the job done I’ll side with the hosts here.
Tips
Back West Indies to beat South Africa for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Coral
