There are two more games from the T20 World Cup on Saturday, and Richard Mann provides his thoughts here.
West Indies meet United States of America in Bridgetown on Saturday, 1.30am, UK time, needing to bounce back from a bruising defeat to England earlier in the week.
Prior to that, West Indies had looked very good in winning their previous four matches and I expect them to get back on track here, for all USA will be no pushovers having beaten Pakistan already and pushed South Africa hard on Wednesday.
The USA’s strength is with the bat and they rallied from 76-5 to eventually make 176-6 against South Africa, while they kicked off the competition by chasing down 195 against Canada in only 17.4 overs.
Look out for Aaron Jones and Andries Gous, the latter hot from 80 not out against South Africa, but there are plenty of others who can hit a long ball, while Saurabh Netravalkar is an excellent new-ball operator who has led the attack with skill and discipline.
3/1 about the latter in the top USA bowler market makes some appeal, though West Indies prefer to face pace more than spin – as demonstrated by their struggles against Adil Rashid in the week – so I’m inclined to sit this one out.
Hope and Chase could prove the value
With Brandon King a major injury doubt for West Indies, a re-jig at the top of the order will be needed should he indeed miss out, with Shai Hope seemingly favourite to take his spot.
Hope boasts a terrific record opening the batting in 50-over cricket and gained strong T20 experience with Delhi Capitals at the IPL in recent months.
Hope made a fluent 25 from number four against Afghanistan in his sole outing at this World Cup so far.
5/1 in the top West Indies batsman market could look a touch big about Hope, but Roston Chase is also worth a second look there, with bet365 dangling the carrot at 16/1.
Chase is an experienced campaigner whose role is to anchor the innings if West Indies lose early wickets.
On the two occasions West Indies have started well with the bat, Chase has been shunted down the order, whereas he has batted at number four in two matches when early wickets fell, including when top scoring against Papua New Guinea.
It’s hard to second guess what West Indies will do there, so on balance, this looks like another no-bet market.
India to brush aside Bangladesh
Later on Saturday, Bangladesh come up against India in North Sound, this fixture starting at 3.30pm, UK time.
Bangladesh were put in their place by Australia on Thursday, their flimsy batting line-up again coming up woefully short, and India, still unbeaten at this World Cup, are impossible to oppose.
Jasprit Bumrah is enjoying yet another wonderful World Cup, eight wickets at a staggering average of only 6.50, and he is of obvious interest in the top India bowler market at 3/1.
Nevertheless, the brittle nature of the Bangladesh middle order should bring wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav into the mix, while Arshdeep Singh has actually taken more wickets (10) than Bumrah in India’s four outings thus far.
Posted at 1505 BST on 21/06/24
Related links
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling.
Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.
