West Indies versus South Africa: Third ODI Preview
The West Indies cricket team is up against a daunting challenge which is more than enough for a side that needs to succeed in all the three remaining matches to win the one day series against a dominant South African team. The West Indies, in its previous 14 One Day Internationals have won only once against South Africa at home. Three of their players have being ruled out due to innjuries to make the situation even tougher for the Caribbean kings
In the first two ODI’s so far, the West Indies side has been completely outclassed. Tall totals have been racked up by the South African batsmen where as their bowlers have done a commendable job. Stand-out performer Morne Morkel is showing his tremendous ability to extract bounce from the slow tracks. Graeme Smith’s own form is the only matter of concern for him in the upcoming match of the tournament. Since his uncompromising century in the Johannesburg Test against England, Smith has failed to make a substantial international contribution.
The home side on the contrary, seems to be relying heavily on their captain Chris Gayle, who most often than not, fires at the top of the order. Darren Sammy and Dwayne Bravo, who battled in the second ODI, need to raise their batting standards to increase the scoring rate. If Gayle’s side has to challenge the South Africans in the remaining matches of the series, the middle order has to improve and come out with a winning strategy.
Darren Sammy, who smashed six sixes and two fours by making the fastest ODI half-century by a West Indian player nearly pulled off a miraculous win for his side. It came after some outstanding performances in the home series against Zimbabwe in the recently concluded T20 World Cup. Sammy’s performances have pushed him closer towards securing a permanent place in the batting line which already features two explosive all-rounder’s in the form of Bravo and Kieron Pollard.
In order to shake off his reputation as a test specialist, Hashim Amla has been performing at his best for South Africa in the shorter versions of cricket. Over the past six months, Smith and Jacques Kallis have outshined Amla with sheer class and perfection. Despite their performances, the lone Muslim in the South African side has not lost heart. Amla’s batting average has increased to an astounding 52.86 runs per match, largely due to his last eight performances in ODI’s. His scores of 80, 57, 86, 11, 34, 87, 102 and 92 have proven Amla as a limited over’s player. What makes these performances even more remarkable is the fact that Amla scored all these runs as an opener.
The out-of-form Andre Fletcher has been kicked out of the team while David Bernard and Darren Bravo have been brought back into the squad. Suleiman Benn is likely to be picked up for the Dominica matches due to Miller’s injury. As expected, Darren is going to be replaced by Sarwan. On the other hand, Chanderpaul’s recovery from an injury will probably decide Narsingh Deonarine's place in the team.
In the present scenario, the probable’s for the West Indies team are as follows: Chris Gayle (captain), Dale Richards, Shivnarine Chanderpaul/Narsingh Deonarine, Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Jerome Taylor, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Bravo, Ravi Rampaul and Suleiman Benn.
In the first two matches, David Miller has played two brisk cameos. These performances would definitely secure his place in the middle-order which means that Alviro Petersen and JP Duminy have to battle it out to win a place in the team.
For the third ODI, the South African’s are looking to dominate proceedings with a team shaping up like this: Graeme Smith (captain), Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Ryan McLaren, Johan Botha, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, David Miller, and Alviro Petersen/JP Duminy.
According to statistics, only two international matches have been hosted at the Windsor Park. The man in form is AB de Villiers who has scored four centuries in his last seven ODI innings. On the other hand, the West Indies have not won a bilateral one-day series against a Test-playing nation for more than one year.
South African captain Graeme Smith will go into the match with his team performing well. Meanwhile Chris Gayle needs to lift up his own performance along with his team in order to come up with better results.
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