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

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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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