West Indies v Australia - 1st ODI

MR Cricket is back from his trip to the Caribbean - but hardly refreshed after spending almost three days on planes. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Mr Cricket will use his knowledge from watching these two sides battle it out in the recent Test series to give some handy pointers to the one-day battle.

It is interesting to note that the West Indies got the chocolates in the Twenty20 international but we will completely scrub that form guide as it was basically an 11-over game that not much could be gleaned from.

While Australia was the better side in the Test series, the gap between these two teams was not nearly as big as many people thought. The 2-0 series win was hardly comprehensive and there were plenty of times when the Windies had the upper hand but failed to deliver a killer punch to the Aussies.

We think the one-day series will play out in a similar way. And limited overs cricket will compress the gap between these sides even further so don't be surprised to see the West Indies give Australia one hell of a fright.

There is plenty of class in the West Indies one-day outfit (Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Ronny Sarwan) and we are forecasting the Windies will win probably two of the five one-dayers. Don't forget this is an Australian one-day side without seasoned stars Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Brad Hogg.

These teams will be pretty much level pegging for much of the series but, as with the Tests, the Aussies will probably get over the line again thanks to their experience in tight situations.
But make no mistake - this is a new-look Australian side that could strike plenty of speed bumps as it adjusts to some new players (Shaun Marsh, Brad Haddin etc) and new playing styles.

The bottom line with this series is we will be steering well clear of the short odds on the Australians and looking to swoop elsewhere. Possibly in the form of some high-bats and also when we think the West Indies could strike.

We think the West Indies will start the ball rolling with a win at good odds in the first one-dayer at St Vincent, for several reasons.

Firstly because Australia will almost certainly be without star allrounder Andrew Symonds (back injury). A HUGE loss. And, with no Hayden, they will field the new-look opening duo of Marsh and Shane Watson. Now these are two high-quality players and both were stars of the Indian Premier League. However opening the batting for your country under high-pressure conditions is vastly different to striding to the crease in 20-over cricket without a care in the world. Marsh and Watson are good players in good form but both will be desperately nervous trying impress as they know that Hayden will be back and that James Hopes is another fine opening candidate.

With no Symonds, with Michael Clarke struggling with a back tightness (yes, that's right) and with Mike Hussey yet to find form in the Caribbean, Australia look a bit shaky to us at the start of the one-day series.

The West Indies, emboldened by their Twenty20 win over the world champions, have swashbuckling young opener Xavier Marshall in fine form and allrounder Dwayne Bravo in some of the ball-striking form of his life. Chris Gayle will lead the team and can go off like a firework at the top of the order.

The West Indies have also lost just two of 16 one-day internationals played at this ground so they clearly like playing here.

As we said before, Australia will probably find a way to win this series but we think the West Indies will be highly competitive and indications are they could strike early. Get on the West Indies at $3.3 (post 5% commission) with Betfair for a 1.25 unit bet.

© 2008 Punting Ace.com

To discuss this Mr Cricket preview click here