The first of five T20 internationals between West Indies and South Africa takes place in Grenada on Saturday and we take a look at the squads, recent form and the all important betting
All 5 of the matches in this series will be staged at National Cricket Stadium, St Georges, Grenada and we begin with a look at the squads.
West Indies: Kieron Pollard, Nicholas Pooran, Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Lendl Simmons, Andre Fletcher, Shimron Hetmyer, Andre Russell, Jason Holder, Dwayne Bravo, Fabian Allen, Fidel Edwards, Obed McCoy, Oshane Thomas, Sheldon Cottrell, Kevin Sinclair, Hayden Walsh Jr, Akeal Hosein.
South Africa: Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, George Linde, Sisanda Magala, Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Lizaad Williams
Recent Form
West Indies
West Indies hosted Sri Lanka in March and they won a 3 match series 2-1. In November 2020 they lost 2-0 in New Zealand and they won 2-0 in Sri Lanka a year ago.
South Africa
The Proteas hosted Pakistan in April and they lost a 4 matches series 3-1 whilst the teams also met in Pakistan in February and the Proteas were beaten 2-1. Towards the end of 2020 England completed a 3-0 series clean sweep of the Proteas in South Africa. Since February 2020 South Africa have played 16 T20's, losing 12 and winning just 4.
Recent Head to Head
Overall the teams have met 10 times with West Indies winning 4 to South Africa's 6.
Only 2 matches have been staged in the Caribbean and the Proteas won both in May 2010 by margins of 13 runs and 1 run
The most recent meeting came in Nagpur in the World T20 in March 2016 and West Indies won by 3 wickets.
The Venue: National Cricket Stadium, St Georges, Grenada
Only one T20 has been staged at this venue and West Indies lost to Ireland by 4 runs in January 2020 with the home side coming up just short of Ireland's total of 208/8
You can check the weather forecast here.
The Betting
West Indies are currently trading at around 15/20 to win the first T20 and South Africa can be backed at around 21/20
West Indies are 5/10 to hit the most sixes and 8/10 to post the highest first 6 overs total
Gayle and Lewis are 3/1 joint favourites to top score for West Indies and Quinton de Kock is 9/4 favourite to do likewise for the Proteas
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
The Verdict
This should be a good series and although the Proteas recent T20 record is woeful they are boosted by having dominated the test series when Rabada, Nortje and Ngidi did plenty of damage and combination of that trio could feature here.
West Indies are a very different proposition in this format and this series opener will give us a good idea of what to expect over the course of the next week or so.
Rassie van der Dussen only played 2 of the 4 matches in the Proteas T20 series against Pakistan but he scored a total of 86 runs in those 2 innings and might be the value in the top SA bat market.
Bets: Top SA bat Rassie van der Dussen at 9/2
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
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