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AUSTRALIA V WEST INDIES FIRST T20I

Following a disappointing display in the ODI series, the West Indies will hope to push Australia a lot closer in the first of a three-match T20I series at Blundstone Arena on Friday. This is the one format where the Aussies aren't current world champions but they have picked a much stronger squad than they did for the ODIs and although Steve Smith, Travis Head, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc will sit out the series, the likes of David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, Josh Hazlewood and new skipper Mitchell Marsh will all be involved in addition to T20 specialists Tim David and Jason Behrendorff.

The Windies' personal also looks far superior to what they trotted out for the 50-over matches with high-profile additions such as Andre Russell, Nicholas Pooran, Jason Holder and Akael Hosein, while they also have a third captain in as many formats with middle-order batsman Rovamn Powell taking the reins and he comes off the back of a fruitful 2023 where he averaged 36.00 at a strike rate of 170.53 across 13 T20Is.

The T20s shape up as a much fairer fight between these two sides, although the hosts are still distinct favourites despite the Calypso Kings winning their last three T20I series'.

Whilst two of those three series wins came at home, it should not be underestimated that the Windies have knocked over the might of England, India and South Africa since a disastrous 2022 World Cup campaign where they failed to progress from the qualifying rounds. But as hosts and defending champions in that tournament, Australia themselves missed out on the semi-finals and since then have endured mixed form, brushing aside the Proteas but beaten convincingly in India, albeit with a weakened squad.

This collection of players is a stronger one than the group that featured in India but they are still without a handful of key players, while the West Indies look to be building nicely under Powell and retain a settled squad which I think can cause an upset here.

Betting Strategy

BACK: West Indies (WIN) at $3.40+ for 1 unit 

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