After a pretty one-sided Test series, West Indies and South Africa ditch the whites for the coloured clothing and the white ball on Saturday evening when the first of five T20 matches between the two takes place in Grenada.
South Africa won that Test series in pretty convincing and ruthless fashion but this format is more the strength of the men from the Caribbean so you would imagine these games will be a lot more competitive than what has gone before.
West Indies
We are a few months away from West Indies beginning the defence of their World T20 title and now will be the time that those who are on the fringes of the squad for that tournament will be looking to make a serious impression, while players ensconced in the squad will be eager to show their worth and ensure they can’t be left out of the reckoning. There is still a Caribbean Premier League to come for players to impress in but those in the squad have the chance to cement their place.
We know that whoever West Indies select in these conditions there is going to be a lot of power with the bat. That is the way the men from the Caribbean are brought up to play so you get the impression that if they are going to win this match and indeed put up a decent defence of their title it will all come down to how they bowl. With the talk of the World T20 moving to the UAE getting stronger, all eyes will be on their spin bowlers in this series.
South Africa
In many ways it is hard to know what to expect of South Africa in this series. They feel a long way behind some of the teams in the world game in this format and are desperately searching for combinations and personnel they can take to the World T20 with them. There is some talented players in the South African setup but this is no longer a side with the X-Factor talents of AB de Villiers, with the obvious exception of Quinton de Kock.
You get the feeling that if South Africa are going to go better in this series and the World T20 than expected then you would imagine a lot will rest on their bowlers. That looks the strongest department of their side on paper and if they can take early wickets and get sides under pressure then half of the job might be done. They will still need to score though and while they have plenty of top order batsmen, they lack the all-round power that the best sides contain.
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Team News
West Indies have named a very strong squad for this series. It doesn’t include the 2016 hero Carlos Brathwaite but the likes of Chris Gayle, Kieron Polland, Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo are all in it as are exciting talents in Evin Lewis, Nicholas Pooran and Kevin Sinclair.
South Africa may not line up too dissimilar to their last full strength T20 international against Pakistan. Captain Temba Bavuma will come into the side though so the only choice to be made is in the all-rounder department where the experience of Andile Phehlukwayo could win the day.
Betting
There has only been one T20 international on this ground. That was between Ireland and West Indies but there were 27 sixes and Ireland actually won the match. They weren’t up against a second string West Indies side either so there has to be the potential for a lot of sixes here in a day game on what is likely to be a very good pitch given that there are matches in successive days in this series which I would imagine they will use the same pitch for.
We know all about the six hitting skills of West Indies batsmen and it might be that if they bat first they go close to covering this total on their own but although South Africa aren’t blessed with a huge amount of natural six hitters, there are still enough players who are capable of hitting sixes on a small ground like this one. I’ll be interested to see if the sides are evenly matched in this game but while we’re assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the two teams I’m happy to jump on over 13.5 sixes, particularly when many bookies have their line up at 15.5.
Tips
Back Over 13.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with William Hill
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