Thursday sees the final action of the 2019 Cricket World Cup for Afghanistan and West Indies who clash at Leeds and these nations have just the one win between them.
Afghanistan:
Afghanistan came agonizingly close to a first win of the tournament when they took on Pakistan at this venue on Saturday but they eventually lost by 3 wickets and this is their last opportunity to claim a victory.
Afghanistan posted 227/9 batting first with Asghar Afghan and Najibullah Zadran top scoring with 42 runs. They had Pakistan in big trouble at 156/6 with the required run rate climbing above 6 per over but just 1 wicket was taken in some expensive death overs and Pakistan got up with 2 balls to spare.
In earlier results Afghanistan went down to Australia by 7 wickets, Sri Lanka by 34 runs (DLS), New Zealand by 7 wickets, South Africa by 9 wickets (DLS), England by 150 runs, India by 11 runs and Bangladesh by 62 runs.
Najibullah Zadran is leading run scorer for Afghanistan with 199, Hashmatullah Shahidi has 197 and Rahmat Shah has 192. With the ball Gulbadin Naib and Mohammad Nabi have both taken 9 wickets.
This was how Afghanistan lined up against Pakistan last time out.
Gulbadin Naib (capt), Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi, Samiullah Shinwari, Najibullah Zadran, Ikram Ali Khil (wk), Rashid Khan, Hamid Hassan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman
West Indies:
This is also the final match of the tournament for West Indies who were in action against Sri Lanka in Durham on Monday a game they lost by 23 runs and they remain stuck on just the 1 win for the tournament so far.
Sri Lanka posted a very healthy 338/6 batting first with Jason Holder the only Windies bowler to take 2 wickets. West Indies were in early trouble at 22/2 and then 84/4 but Nicholas Pooran made 118 and he found support down the order from Fabian Allen (51). It wasn’t to be and the innings closed on 315/9.
West Indies beat Pakistan by 7 wickets in their opening match. Other subsequent results include a 14 run defeat to Australia, an abandoned game against South Africa, an 8 wicket defeat to England, a 7 wicket loss to Bangladesh, a 5 run defeat to New Zealand and 125 run loss to India.
Nicholas Pooran is leading run scorer for West Indies with 309, Chris Gayle has 235 and Shimron Hetmyer has 218. Sheldon Cottrell is leading wicket taker with 12, Oshane Thomas and Jason Holder both have 8.
This is how West Indies lined up against Sri Lanka last time out.
Chris Gayle, Sunil Ambris, Shai Hope (wk), Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder (capt), Carlos Brathwaite, Fabian Allen, Shannon Gabriel, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas
Head to Head
The teams have met 5 times with Afghanistan winning 3, West Indies have won 1 with 1 no result.
The most recent meetings came in Zimbabwe in the qualifiers for these finals in March 2018 and Afghanistan won both head to heads by margins of 3 wickets and 7 wickets.
The Betting, Click here for all markets
Afghanistan 3/1
West Indies ¼
Note prices quoted are correct at the time of publication but are subject to change.
Verdict:
It may be a dead rubber but a win should still mean plenty to both teams. Afghanistan have no victory to show for their efforts so far but they pushed India close and took Pakistan all the way and if West Indies take them lightly they could pay the price.
The problem for Afghanistan has been making significant runs with 76 being their highest individual score. Windies do have players capable of scoring big but their batsmen have lacked consistency and its tough to predict who’s day it will be to top score.
The bowlers markets may be a better proposition for a bet and we go with one from each side. Kemar Roach sat out the defeat to Sri Lanka through illness but if he takes to the field he could be too hot for the Afghan top order.
Hopefully Roach will play but if he doesn’t we still have interest in the shape of Rashid Khan to be top Afghan bowler. Khan came into the tournament as favourite to be leading wicket taker for his side but he has just 5 against his name. Some lessons will hopefully have been learned and he can salvage some individual pride with a good show here.
Suggested Bets:
Top WI Bowler Kemar Roach at 3/1
Top Afghanistan bowler Rashid Khan at 3/1
Click here for all CWC markets.
Claim your 1st deposit bonus of up to R10,000 here
Remember you can have your own say on all this week’s matches on our discussion forum
