West Indies and South Africa continue their T20 series in Grenada on Tuesday evening when they meet in the third match of five with the series beautifully poised at one match each after the tourists levelled up on Sunday.
Although this series is primarily about preparation for the upcoming World T20 in the UAE later in the year, winning matches brings confidence and whoever does that here will be one up in this series with two to play.
West Indies
We’ve seen the best and the worst of the West Indies in this series so far and in many ways we’ve seen why they can win the World T20 again later in the year and potentially why they won’t. The positives came in that first match where we saw all the power that their batting line up has as they brutally chased down an inferior target hitting sixes galore. On a wicket which had the life sucked out of it for the second game though, much like they will be in the UAE, that same power batting was rendered sterile and offered little.
If West Indies are going to win that tournament then they need to find some nous to their batting. It is all well and good having plenty of power hitters but if you don’t have the pitch to swipe on then the scoreboard goes nowhere. That is what happened in the previous game. The problem is there is nobody in this squad that has that style in their locker. The positive from both matches though is that their bowling has been spot on. That could yet get them out of trouble.
South Africa
Although South Africa won the previous match the concern that was around them heading into the series is becoming bigger and bigger. That is the second half of their batting innings and the death overs with the bat in particular. They just don’t seem to be able to carry the momentum needed into those overs and as a result of that promising starts all too often end up in inadequate totals. That happened again in the previous game even though they won it so that is something they need to address.
Where they can get themselves out of trouble is with the ball. They have two of the best seamers in world cricket at their disposal and while you wonder just how effective seam will be in the World T20 if the IPL has been finishing in that part of the world in the lead up to that tournament, it is never a bad thing to have bowlers the class of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje. They might need to find some improvement in their spin department to be competitive in the UAE later in the year though.
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Team News
West Indies need to search for that nous whether it means moving an experienced player up the order or bringing someone in. There is nobody in the side who has it so maybe the captain Kieron Pollard needs to go up the order and modify his game.
South Africa are searching for a balance which allows them to play more than one spinner but right now that is coming at the expense of their batting depth. They might decide the time has come to play an Aiden Markram and try to get something out of his part-time spin.
Betting
I lost out with the sixes in the previous match. I still think they should be good things in this series and the 16.5 line remains fair enough but the lack of them from South Africa so far is more than a slight concern. We’re on a new pitch here which should help with the six hitting but I’m going to wait for more South Africans to find their feet until I jump back on them. There is a bet I like in the match though which is a performance of Reeza Hendricks.
I like Hendricks in this format of the game. He is a player who knows his role in a side and is happy to play it without an ego needing to take over or anything like that. His role is to tick the scoreboard over and put the bad ball away and get the strike to Quinton de Kock to do the power scoring. That often leads to Hendricks scoring well as he can get himself in before he has to take risks. That was evidence in the previous game when he scored 42. He averages over 26 with the bat in this format so the 23.5 performance line gets covered more than it doesn’t with the bat alone. Already in this series he has bowled an over and taken two catches so he has other scoring potential apart from the bat which makes me think the over is a good thing here.
Tips
Back R.Hendricks’ Performance – Over 23.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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