 West Indies will host the South Africa side in five ODIs at the end of the T20Is, and if the first T20I game was anything to go by, then one can be rest
assured that things could get difficult for the home team. The game will be played
at North Sound in Antigua, the same venue as the T20Is, and that should mean that
the pitches will be slower and lower than some of the rest of them.
Click for Live Score Card of West Indies Vs South AfricaSouth Africa will obviously continue with their strategy of changing things
around and one should be able to see AB de Villiers continuing to keep the wickets
in the ODIs as well. This will allow the South Africans an extra option in terms
of either a batsman or a bowler and that, in all probability will go to Ryan
McLaren.
McLaren had an amazing first game against West Indies as he worked rather
hard for his five-wicket haul. His lower order hitting will also be an asset,
much like what it was when he played for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL this
year.
Apart from that, we should also be able to see Jacques Kallis get going
with the bat along with Hashim Amla, both of whom are good batsmen, but a trifle
slow in their approach. This should mean that Graeme Smith should be batting
higher up the order and should be able to take control with some aggressive
batting, as he would need to balance the defensive attitude from the aforementioned
other two in Kallis and Amla.
It is the West Indian batting that needs to do a bit of soul searching. Chasing
130 odd was never going to be difficult in the first T20I against South Africans
and yet, they were unable to get there, thanks to their lack of application.
Chris Gayle departed early, and in the middle, the run-rate became so
slow that the rest of the batsmen failed to get going with the bat.
It is high time that the side bats with some purpose and with some strategy.
To have Andre Fletcher opening the innings is a decent move, but with the kind
of hopping and jumping that he has shown so far, it looks like he will need
to bat much better than poke around to remain as a permanent member of the side.
similarly, Dwayne Bravo needs to get his form going, whereas Pollard
will need to bat longer than the small freakish innings that he plays for his
side.
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