Teams Status
West Indies
West Indies are one of the toughest teams to predict from a betting point of view and they have once again shown us why is that.
They upset England in the series opener, collapsed in the second T20I before their tail nearly turned the match on its head and then they posted a gargantuan total in the third match to take a 2-1 lead.
In that last game, they posted 224 for 5, thanks to Nicholas Pooran (70 off 43) and Rovman Powell’s (107 off 53) blitzkriegs. The bowlers were a bit wobbly but the comfort of such a big total to defend got them through.
In hindsight, bringing in Powell was a genius move by captain Kieron Pollard. The 28-year-old came in for Odean Smith and showed his team what they missed over the first two matches, smashing 10 sixes and a quartet of fours.
With such power hitting at their disposal, West Indies must surely now be favourites for the series. Their batting spectacle, however, owed to the new batter-friendly deck the 3rd T20I was played on. It remains to be seen where the 4th game will be played.
England
England tried out three debutants in the third T20I but only one of them did anything of note. That guy was Phil Salt, who smashed a 24-ball 57 in a close but unsuccessful run chase.
The tourists’ bowling performance was uneven. Where Reece Topley and Adil Rashid bowled tightly and well, others were picked apart by Pooran and Powell. Garton and Tymal Mills came off worse, conceding 57 and 52 runs in their quota of overs and picking up just a wicket each.
In the run chase, England did have their moments but their main contributors – Tom Banton (73) and Phil Salt (57) couldn’t smash the ball for as long as the Windies pair had done, and eventually, their team fell short.
After going 2-1 down, England have also gone a man down. The news is that their captain Eoin Morgan will miss the remainder of the series due to a thigh strain. The skipper had also missed the third T20I. In his place, Moeen Ali will lead the side.
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