West Indies vs Australia, Twenty20 International @ Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados - Friday 20th June 2008, 6pm GMT

Enjoy the carnival atmosphere, mon.

An electric atmosphere is guaranteed at Bridgetown on Friday evening, for what is certain to be an exciting few hours of high-tempo cricket.

On the back of a highly competitive test series, Australia should be buoyant and going into the Twenty20 and ODI series with a fair deal of confidence. But in reality, they should be weary of a West Indies side who have shown the appetite for a hard-fought battle.

Both sides have plenty of players who developed their Twenty20 skills during the Indian Premier League, and impressed to varying degrees. The likes of Shiv Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan did not play as many matches as they would have liked during the IPL due to high competition for places (read: 'poor team selection' in Chanderpaul's case), but Dwayne Bravo starred for the Mumbai Indians.

Such is Australia's strength in depth that they are able to draft in several world-class specialists for the shorter version of the game. Shane Watson was the man of the tournament in the IPL and was brilliant for tournament winners Rajasthan Royals. David Hussey put in some calculating performances for Kolkata Knight Riders, and the bowling of James Hopes should prove hard to get away on the Barbados pitch, although it should be noted that his bowling went AWOL at crucial times during the tournament. It will also be interesting to see whether Hopes opens with Shaun Marsh, his opening partner for Kings XI Punjab, or whether Australia revert to Michael Clarke, who opened in their last Twenty20 match against India in February.

Men to watch:

Shaun Marsh has shown that he will not be fazed by pressure situations. His cool head and clean hitting will surely propel him to super-stardom. With 616 runs in 11 matches during the IPL, he is a force to be reckoned with. Marsh was a revelation, out-scoring the likes of Jayasuriya and Gambhir to earn the coveted and fabled 'Orange Cap', which, if you believe the likes of Tony Cozier and Pommie Mbwangwa, is the greatest achievement a modern batsman can strive for!

Marsh has a technique to die for, allowing him to hit all around the ground, and coupled with his natural strength, he has the potential to usurp Matthew Hayden in the coming years. State cricketers around Australia

Dwayne Bravo is the fulcrum of the West Indies side, and should now look to assume more responsibility when senior players such as Gayle are absent. Few players in world cricket can boast the potential to win a game with bat, ball, or in the field, but Bravo is a notable exception.

It is refreshing to watch him carry himself in the field, especially in the frustratingly recurrent hopeless situations which the West Indies seem to find themselves in. Bravo holds the key for the West Indies - his batting is often wreckless but his six-hitting capacity has improved markedly over the past few months, and his bowling always presents a wicket-taking threat with his slower balls at the death. His enthusiasm in the field is infectious and it's easy to see the positive effect that he has on his team-mates.

Team news:

For Australia, Brad Haddin is a doubt with a broken finger, so Luke Ronchi is likely to come in for his international debut. Andrew Symonds suffered a back spasm during the third test, and is likely to be rested for the Twenty20 match. Matthew Hayden was withdrawn from the tour without playing a game with an achilles injury.

For the West Indies, Chris Gayle will sit out with a persistent groin injury which prevented him from taking any part in the IPL and limited him to a solitary appearance in the third test.
West Indies suffer a big blow with the absence of their most destructive batsman in Gayle, but home fans should be encouraged by the performances of Xavier Marshall, who showed glimpses of brilliance during the test series but gave his wicket away far too easily. This format should suit him perfectly and - as ever - the West Indian fans live in hope.

Possible line-ups:

Australia: Ricky Ponting (capt), Shaun Marsh, James Hopes, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Shane Watson, Luke Ronchi, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark

West Indies: Ramnaresh Sarwan (capt), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Xavier Marshall, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Darren Sammy, Sulieman Benn, Jerome Taylor, Fidel Edwards, Daren Powell

Betting preview:

Australia are priced @ 1.5 to beat West Indies, and to be honest I think this is pretty decent value. The Aussies are so strong in every department that it would take a phenomenal effort from the West Indies to get close to a win. We'll have a small bet on the Aussies to win @ 1.5 , but let's look to other markets for some more value.

We also like the look of there to be over 1.5 run outs in the match @ 2.2 . Australia are an awesome fielding side, and West Indies also have enough energy these days to pull off something spectacular in the field. With Twenty20, we'll see more wreckless running towards the death of an innings and the inexperienced West Indies lower order could be particularly susceptible to a trademark Calypso Collapso .

In the man of the match market, one player stands out for me - Shaun Marsh @ 8.0 has fantastic potential. During the IPL, this bet came in on several occasions, and as an opening batsman, Marsh has a huge advantage over other batsmen in the Aussie ranks. There is such competition in this market that being guaranteed the chance to bat as an opener
is a huge advantage in the twenty over format.

The final market which stands out for me is the match wides market, where I feel that the bookie concerned has made an almighty rick at setting the bar at ten match wides. In the 21 Twenty20 internationals that West Indies and Australia have played, 'under 10 wides' has come in on a whopping 19 occasions! While we are aware that the likes of Edwards and Johnson can be profligate, they would need to have mares for this bet not to come in - under 10 wides in the match @ 1.8 is a stand-out value play.


NJ's recommended bets:

1.5pts Shaun Marsh to be Man of the Match @ 8.0 (BoyleSports)

1.5pts West Indies/Australia 'over 1.5 match run-outs' @ 2.2 (BoyleSports)

2pts Australia to beat West Indies @ 1.5 (CanBet)

3.5pts West Indies/Australia 'under 10 match wides' @ 1.8 ()