Australia v West Indies ODI Series....Gayle Force Windies

By Bigjoe

Commences Sunday 7th Feb January, 03.30 GMT
Sky Sports 3 (From 03:15), Sky Sports HD3 (From 03:15)

Australia inflicted an embarrassing 5-0 whitewash on Pakistan in one of the most one-sided ODI series of recent times. Obviously whilst full credit goes to them for that feat, I feel that the scoreline said more about the woeful underperformance and low morale of the Pakistan side then it did about the invincibility of Australia.

Momentum from the Test series was with Australia. The thoughts about their capitulation in Sydney were still fresh in the Pakistani’s minds. And to make matters worse, right in the middle of the series, the Pakistan management undermined the captain Mohammed Yousef by announcing that his tenure as captain was about to end. All these factors meant the Australians had a head start, mentally, in every game and they made the most of that advantage.

The scores posted by Australia were not massive by today’s standards. Pakistan’s biggest chase was 288, yet they were never at the races until the final game of the series which went to the wire. Their fundamental weakness was the inability by their top order to get off to decent starts. This in turn put the middle and late batting order under pressure and they invariably collapsed under that pressure.

Now it’s the turn of the Windies to have a crack at the Aussies. Though they have not set the world alight in this format either, I believe the Windies will provide a much stiffer test. Their morale will be better then Pakistan’s after a creditable performance in the Test series between these two in December. They have a united team playing under an inspirational captain, Chris Gayle. And with Gayle at the top of the innings, Windies are much more likely to get off to flying starts and with the likes of Dwayne Smith and  Kieron Pollard in the middle order, they have the power to make the best of those flying starts.

It’s true that the Windies are missing three of their most experienced players Chanderpaul, Sarwan and Bravo, but I expect their replacements Rinako Morton, Wavel Hinds and Travis Dowling to do themselves credit. Their late order of Nash, Ramdin and Sammy are also more then capable and collectively I can see this Windies batting lineup give a good account of themselves in this series.

Australia’s confidence will be sky high. Though they have struggled on the Test match front recently, in this ODI format they are having a golden run and are sitting pretty at the top of the rankings. The most pleasing aspect for them in the whitewash of Pakistan would have been the man of the series performance by Ryan Harris. With Peter Siddle out with injury, Australia will be content that they have found a suitable replacement.

From a betting point of view, Australia are rightly short priced favourites for this series, however, no team should be in the range of 1.18 to win a series against another top 8 side these days and I feel the value lies in laying Australia at these prices.

West Indies can be a bit hit and miss, but with potentially explosive, match winning performers like Gayle, Pollard and Smith around I would be much happier being on their side then opposing them at big prices. Key for them will be getting off to those good starts, I believe Chris Gayle can give them those flying starts and therefore my suggested bets for this series are:

In the Series Outright Market:

LAY Australia for 5 points liability @ 1.18 on Betfair

Join me as I believe  Gayle force Windies are about to hit Australia.

Bigjoe