The opening match in the West Indies vs Sri Lanka T20 series was one of the craziest T20 internationals that have ever been played so we are all eagerly awaiting the second match on Friday evening to see what the next instalment has in store for us.
West Indies ended up winning that epic contest and they can claim the series with a match to spare if they come out on top here. Sri Lanka go into the match knowing that they have to win it if they are to force a decider.
West Indies
There were things to like about the West Indies performance in the opening match of the series and then there would have been other parts which would have given Phil Simmons kittens. He will have enjoyed the bowling display of his side. They bowled cleverly, using their variations well and Kieron Pollard utilised the options available to him very well. They picked up a couple of fortunate wickets but when they had their foot on the throat of the Sri Lankans they never let it go.
Where Simmons will have wanted some improvement was in the brains of his batsmen. They seemed determined to smack as many sixes as they could regardless of the consequences and they were not a million miles away from making a complete hash of what should have been a routine run chase. As it was, just at the time they needed some experience and cool heads the most Jason Holder and Dwayne Bravo provided it.
Sri Lanka
I expected Sri Lanka to be below par in that opening match of the series and that was how it proved, however they would have seen enough in their performance to suggest that there could be something in these last two games for them should they make the natural improvement that tends to come with these tours these days when there isn’t the opportunity for a warm up match. The fight they showed is certainly something that can stand them in good stead.
You got the feeling that Sri Lanka got caught not knowing what they wanted with the bat in the first game but now they know what to expect they can pace themselves accordingly. What they certainly did see is that their mystery spinners are going to be a handful so if they can use their spin overs wisely then there is definitely a win in this match for them. They will need runs on the board though to allow them to toss the ball up because invariably in doing so some will go for six.
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Team News
West Indies were pretty convincing in the opening game although their batsmen were a bit naïve. They have committed to forming a squad to take to India so it is unlikely they will change a winning side when it has the chance to settle a little.
Sri Lanka saw the impact that spin had in the last game so it might be that they bring another tweaker in for Nuwan Pradeep who was largely a spectator in the opening match of the series. Other than that they could be unchanged.
Betting
We saw a number of sixes in the previous match and I’m expecting to see plenty more now that Sri Lanka have had a match to adjust to conditions. The concern in taking the over would be that Sri Lanka bat first and don’t put up much of a score but they just did that and we still got 16 of them. Sri Lanka didn’t bat as badly as their score in that game and their score wasn’t helped by the rain delay in between so should they bat first I expect more runs from them and more than three sixes given that the likes of Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera didn’t hit one.
We know how West Indies are going to approach this match. They are going to go gung ho with the bat and look to put the pressure on, a style that served them very well down in India in the last T20 World Cup. This ground certainly isn’t big enough to contain their top eight and given that they can’t read the Sri Lankan spinners I expect them to swing for the hills. That all makes me think that for the second time in as many matches the over 14.5 sixes line can be covered.
Tips
Back Over 14.5 sixes for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with BetVictor
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