Today’s encounter between Ballr Tri-Nations Series hosts West Indies and Australia will see the Caribbean side looking to gain retribution after their loss in Guyana and climb the points table.
Each team recorded one win in the matches at the Providence National Stadium here last week, with the West Indies defeating South Africa, South Africa beating Australia and Australia defeating the West Indies.
A shift to a livelier venue at Warner Park, St. Kitts saw the World Cup One Day champs Australia flexing their muscles and exacting revenge on South Africa.
Opener David Warner who scored an unbeaten 55 against West Indies in Guyana, cracked his first hundred (109) on foreign soil to help his team beat South Africa by 36 runs.
While Providence showed that 190 was a stiff target, the Aussies posted 288 to which the South Africans replied with 252 all out.
The West Indies will look to gain some momentum from the familiar conditions. However, from a statistical perspective the energy will definitely be in the Australian camp after their top-order who failed in Guyana flourished in St Kitts.
Their bowlers were sublime with the in-form pace duo of Joshua Hazlewood and left-armer Mitchell Starc bagging three wickets apiece while leg-spinner Adam Zampa continues to pick up wickets ending with three scalps as well.
The big challenge for the West Indies will be if they stick with their current playing XI or will they bring in left-hander Johnathan Carter who batted well during the West Indies Cricket Board Regional season or will they tinker with right-arm off-break off-break Ashley Nurse who is yet to play a game.
Johnson Charles and Andre Fletcher who are likely to open the batting should provide a better start given their aggressive nature of fast wickets.
A solid middle order with Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuel, Kieron Pollard and Denesh Ramdin should provide substance in the batting department while laying a platform for the all-rounders.
The Australian bowlers were lethal and with a successful outing against a good South Africa batting side, they will fancy the slightly out-of-form West Indies batsmen.
However, with off-spinner Sunil Narine in magical bowling form and a world-class limited overs all-rounders like Pollard and Carlos Brathwaite, the home team could likely outweigh their overseas opponents in that department.
More importantly, West Indies who have played two matches so far will desperately want to come out of their last place position and add to their current four points.
If the Aussies win they will remain in first place where they currently stand with nine points after two wins and a loss. The match begins at 13:00hrs.
