West Indies vs Australia | 1st T20I: Powerful Windies look to dismantle second string Australia
After losing the five-match T20I series against a resurgent South African team, the strong Caribbean outfit will be up against a second-string Australian side in a five-match T20 series that kicks off at Gros Islet in St. Lucia tomorrow. Despite languishing at 9in the latest ICC T20I rankings, it doesn’t reflect how good a team West Indies is with most of the T20 specialists there in the squad ahead of their title defence of the T20 World Cup slated to be played in UAE later this year. On the other hand, Australia will be playing for the first time since the home series against New Zealand in March and with so many players backing out of this tour due to fatigue issues, it presents a golden opportunity to quite a few to come in the mix for the showpiece event later this year. The new-look side has some exceptional talents and will look to seize their opportunity in a high octane series against the defending world champions in this format. All teams are currently preparing for the T20 World Cup and with so many players backing out for Australia, captain Aaron Finch has made it pretty clear that the players missing out in this series won’t be an automatic pick in the showpiece event if the fringe players grab their opportunities. He had also stated that the eventual World Cup team could be significantly different to what it was looking 12-18 months ago. Meanwhile, West Indies won’t be too disappointed with the series defeat against the Proteas. They made a good account of themselves but eventually lost to a better team. However, the hard-hitting batting line-up looks in good shape but have been inconsistent in the recent past. Only Evin Lewis scored over 100 runs in the series against South Africa. While skipper Kieron Pollard did make a match-winning impact in the 4th ODI, the rest of the unit couldn’t quite convert their starts. West Indies vs Australia: Match Details Match No- 1st T20I Date and Time: July 10, 2021, 05:00 AM IST, 11:30 GMT, 7:30 PM Local time Venue: Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet, St Lucia. Pitch Report and Toss : The pitch at St Lucia should be a belter for the batsmen especially in the second part of the match. Teams batting second has a far better record than the team batting first. Hence it should be a sensible option to field. In the 13 T20s played in this stadium, teams batting first have won on 8 occasions. The two intra squad games which Australia played was a good batting deck and Dan Christian felt 170 will be a par score. Weather Forecast: The temperature is expected to hover around 27 degrees with very slim chances of rain. It should be a good contest between bat and ball and we hope that the rain gods stay away. Team News West Indies The West Indies outfit looks a strong one with Jason Holder among the only regular missing out from this series. He has been rested as a part of the workload management. The top order looks star-studded with the likes of Evin Lewis, Lendl Simmons and Chris Gayle making the top three. Captain Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Spieceman Fletcher, Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer you can keep on going but the list won’t end. Such is the firepower of the Windies batting line-up. Each one of them has the ability to turn any match on it’s head within a blink of an eye. The return of experienced campaigner Fidel Edwards had added a new variety to the squad with the likes of Obed McCoy and Sheldon Cottrell forming the pace cartel. Probable Playing XI Lendl Simmons, Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Kieron Pollard ©, Andre Russell, Nicholas Pooran, Dwayne Bravo, Akeal Hosein, Obel McCoy, Fidel Edwards Australia The return of veteran Dan Christian should bolster the side with so many first-choice players absent from the squad. Aaron Finch will be leading the side and will look to handle his new look troops. He will open the batting with Matthew Wade with all-rounders Moises Henriques occupying the middle order positions. Josh Philippe who is a natural opener might not get a chance in his preferred position. He might have to do the finisher’s role alongside Dan Christian who has been in terrific T20 form off late with both bat and the ball. The bowling line-up will be led by Mitchell Starc and will be backed up by Riley Meredith or Josh Hazlewood whoever gets the nod. Probable Playing XI Aaron Finch, Matthew Wade, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Josh Philippe, Dan Christian, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Riley Meredith. Dream 11 team Wicket-keepers- Matthew Wade, Nicholas Pooran Batsmen- Aaron Finch, Kieron Pollard, Evin Lewis, Josh Philippe All-rounders- Andre Russell, Dan Christian Bowlers- Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Akeal Hosein.
