New Zealand and West Indies begin a three-match T20 series on Friday – and it could all be over before it has started due to some very late withdrawals from the tourists’ squad.
Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard, two senior players and ones with enough of the X-factor to be regulars for various franchise teams around the world, have pulled out for “personal reasons.” It leaves the Windies mighty short on firepower against a strong Kiwi team.
They have also lost Dwayne Bravo, one of the best all-rounders in the world, Marlon Samuels, a strong middle-order anchor and Darren Sammy. This is a virtual reserve team, and nowhere near the calibre that won the World T20.
The hosts are -150 at BMR’s green-listed bookmakers to win the opener, and although those are the sort of odds that we would not normally play with, they should surely be skinnier. William Hill, for example, are -175 about New Zealand. That’s about right.
New Zealand have won four of the last five home T20 series, and before their defeat in a series in India they were rated as the No. 1 side in the world. West Indies are level on rankings points with them in No. 3 but without that clutch of key men they are much weaker.
Chris Gayle, Andre Fletcher and Samuel Badree are available, but none of these three would be labelled as reliable. They are hit or miss players. For sure, they can turn a game on its head (Gayle particularly) but more often than not they fail to influence one. Just because Gayle, for example, can blast something extraordinary with the bat every six games or so his importance can be overstated.
New Zealand have lost Kane Williamson and Colin de Grandhomme, but their top three in the batting order looks good. Martin Guptill, fit again after missing an easy Kiwi win in the ODI leg, Colin Munro, rejuvenated in this format, and the legend Ross Taylor give us confidence.
There’s also a bet for us on top West Indies bowler. Unusually we’re going for the jolly, but Kesrick Williams has very little to beat here at +333 (William Hill). His strike rate of a wicket every 11.1 balls in the last 12 months is superb, and he has five wickets more than his nearest teammate, Carlos Brathwaite.
Brathwaite is underrated himself at +500 with Ladbrokes and takes a wicket every 12.7 balls. The gap in odds between the two probably isn’t justified and he should be second jolly. Still, Williams should come out on top.
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