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West Indies vs Australia | 1st T20I: Powerful Windies look to dismantle second string Australia

Aryasekhar Chakraborty

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 on Saturday, 10 July. Despite languishing in the latest ICC T20I rankings, it doesn’t reflect how good a team West Indies. The 9th ranked defending world champions have tremendous firepower and experience and are in contention to win the tournament which would be held between October and November in the UAE. 

On the other hand, Australia will be playing for the first time since the away series against New Zealand in March and with so many players backing out of this tour due to bubble-fatigue issues, it presents a golden opportunity to quite a few players to secure their place in the squad for the World Cup. 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 regular starters won’t be an automatic pick in the showpiece event. 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. Although, the hard-hitting batting line-up might need to shake themselves up strategically and think about putting up consistent performances in the run-up to the big tournament. Only Evin Lewis scored over 100 runs in the 5-match series against South Africa while the middle order faltered time and again. 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 chasing 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 degree celsius 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 regulars 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, Andre 'Spiceman' 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 its 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. 


Meanwhile, all-rounder Fabian Allen who seemed to be the rescuer with the bat in hand against the Proteas, sustained a right shoulder injury during the fourth encounter and was out of the field for the rest of the game. He did not take further part in the series and an update on his injury has not been issued by the team. He hasn't been named in the final squad with Akeal Hosein being drafted in. 















Probable Playing XI 


Lendl Simmons, Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Kieron Pollard (c), Andre Russell, Nicholas Pooran, Dwayne Bravo, Akeal Hosein, Obel McCoy, Fidel Edwards 


Squad: Evin Lewis, Lendl Simmons, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Kieron Pollard (c), Nicholas Pooran (w), Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo, Akeal Hosein, Obed McCoy, Fidel Edwards, Andre Fletcher, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jr, Kevin Sinclair


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. 


Finch will open the batting with Matthew Wade with all-rounders Moises Henriques and Mitchell Marsh 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 either Riley Meredith or Josh Hazlewood, whoever gets the nod. 


Squad: Aaron Finch(c), Matthew Wade(w), Mitchell Marsh, Moises Henriques, Ashton Turner, Josh Philippe, Daniel Christian, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, Riley Meredith, Ben McDermott, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Andrew Tye, Mitchell Swepson, Wes Agar


Probable Playing XI


Aaron Finch, Matthew Wade, Josh Philippe, Ben McDermott, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, 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.

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Kieron Pollard backs Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer to reap rewards of their 'talent'

After an impressive win in the first T20I of the series against South Africa, West Indies suffered an unlikely series defeat as their brittle middle-order could not rise to the occasion of dealing with a perpetually challenging Proteas bowling attack. The series loss served as a harsh reminder to the Windies side who have been dominating the world in the shortest format of the game but the skipper Kieron Pollard has thrown his weight behind the side. He has chosen to work with young and talented people such as Nicholas Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer, who have not best of times with the bat against Proteas, to see if they can translate their potential into performances. "When Hetmyer wasn't playing people were asking for his inclusion, now he's playing, he comes in and is trying to fulfil a role. He's a guy who is really, really talented, we have a lot of time for him. Let him play and see if we can reap the rewards of his talent. We are willing to work with him and he's willing to work. We just want him to succeed,” Pollard said before the start of the T20 series against Australia. "Nicholas Pooran, again, a young individual finding his craft, we know he's talented, and in any sportsman's career you will go through a period like this," Pollard said. "It is an opportunity for us to be there for these youngsters and give them this sort of hug and protect them then let them come out of it. Emphasizing the need to back younger players who can turn up their game in the near future, Pollard said that dropping them from the side would be the easiest decision for his side but it has not worked for them in the past and hence it would be a wrong move. He said that the team management knows ‘deep down’ that what these pliers bring to the table for West Indies and hence sticking with them while they are down on confidence and short of runs is the way forward. "As a team we are willing to work with these youngsters because we know in the future what they can do. Sometimes the easiest suggestion is to put them on the sidelines but is that going to help? Has it worked before? "We are going to stick with these guys because we know deep down inside that these guys are talented and have what it takes to take West Indies cricket forward." West Indies as a side have been known for brutal hitting of the balls and their batsmen, in general, rely on boundary hitting more than rotating strike compared to the other teams across the world. The trend was all too similar in the lost series against South Africa and Pollard took cognisance of higher dot ball played by his batsmen. However, he said that the fact which has emerged as an issue can be a ‘two-fold’ case and it also shows that the Windies batsmen hit a lot more boundary shots than their opponents. "Yes, we've had a high percentage of dot balls throughout the series and the one prior to that. It has been spoken about time and time again, I can assure you that we try not to leave any stone unturned. We have a wealth of experience and wealth of coaches who take time to go into details of where we need to improve as a team. "There's a lot of conversations taking place but we still need to put it into practice. Some things might take longer, but that's the nature of life. It's like going into school, some persons need extra lessons to get it right. It can become a concern but is it a concern when you look around at the other teams and we hit more boundaries than them at different times. That's our strength, so it's two-fold." Windies will take on Australia in a five-match long T20 series starting July 10 in St. Lucia and a three-match ODI series starting on July 21 in Barbados.

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BCCI reminds team management of 'system' after confusion over player replacement

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ENG W vs IND W | 1st T20I: With momentum by their side, Indian eves aim to level all-format series

The Indian eves managed to snatch a narrow victory in the last ODI of the three-match series. With that, they also achieved two crucial points and got to four points, two behind hosts England who were at six points at the end of the ODIs. Part of an all-format series between the two sides, the three T20Is have six points up for grabs and if India Women manage to win the series 2-1, they will level with the English side at right points each and if they are able to clean sweep, they can even win the series comprising of a Test, three ODIs and three T20Is. The Test had four points up for grabs which were shared by the two teams while the white-ball formats had two points for each game. But for India to either level or win the series, they would have to play out of their skins. The main reason for this statement is the absence of Mithali Raj, India's skipper and the leading run-scorer for the Women in Blue during the ODI series. Apart from her, no other batter was able to get a hang of English bowling. The T20I skipper Harmanpreet Kaur on the other hand has had a horrible tour so far, unable to get in the mix either with the bat or ball in hand. However, vastly experienced Kaur knows that she is just an innings away from getting back into form. Acknowledging that she promised in a pre-match virtual press conference that a different approach from her would be on display during T20Is. The team would also look to utilise the form of Sneh Rana with both bat and ball. In fact, Harmanpreet indicated that Rana alongside young Richa Ghosh would work as finishers for the team late in the batting order. When it comes to England Women, they gave got in-form Danni Wyatt back in the squad alongside spinner Mady Villiers to go with horses for course approach as they removed Kate Cross and Lauren Winfield-Hill respectively. With all to play for, the two teams would look to use this opportunity to battle it out as well as to try and test their squad in similar conditions before the 2022 Commonwealth Games, where T20I has been included for the first time. England Women vs India Women: Match Details Match No.- 1st T20I Date and Time: July 09, 2021, 11:00 pm IST, 05:30 pm GMT and 06:30 pm Local Venue: County Ground, Northampton Broadcast and Livestream in India: Sony Sports Network and Sony LIV Pitch Report The pitch in Northampton usually favours the batters and is one of the high scoring grounds. However, in six T20Is, all the matches have been won by teams batting first, suggesting that there will be something for the spinners later in the second innings. Weather Forecast and Toss While there are 25-30% chances of rain, the ground would mostly be covered by clouds hovering above and making the temperature a bit chilly. Although it's a batting track, risking rain and hence the Duckworth Lewis system wouldn't be a wise choice. Hence field first might be the preferred option. Team News England Women The English Women would be forced to make at least two changes from the team that played the last ODI as both Cross and Winfield-Hill are not in the squad. Wyatt and Villiers thus would naturally fit into the squad. However with Sarah Glenn being there already, Villiers might have to make way for Tash Ferrant, or England could be brave enough and play three front line spinners. The one choice that skipper Heather Knight would be making involved experienced Anya Shrubsole and emerging quick Freya Davies. While Davies has been in good nick, Shrubsole hasn't looked her lethal best so far. Sophia Dunkley would once again fancy her chances to let loose as soon as possible. Probable XI Tammy Beaumont, Danielle Wyatt, Heather Knight(c), Natalie Sciver, Amy Ellen Jones(wk), Sophia Dunkley, Katherine Brunt, Sophie Ecclestone, Sarah Glenn, Natasha Farrant/Mady Villiers, Freya Davies India For India, it would involve plenty of changes with Harleen Deol, Simran Dil Bahadur, Radha Yadav and Ghosh making it to the team and Mithali, Jhulan Goswami and Taniya Bhatia walking out. Indrani Roy might be ignored once again as the team is looking to play Ghosh as a wicketkeeper-batter. Probable XI Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Jemimah Rodrigues/ Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Richa Ghosh, Simran Bahadur Dream XI / Fantasy XI team Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana (c), Harmanpreet Kaur, Natalie Sciver (vc), Amy Ellen Jones(wk), Sophia Dunkley, Sneh Rana, Sophie Ecclestone, Poonam Yadav, Freya Davies