West Indies vs England – 3rd T20I Match Prediction

No sooner had the England cricket team finished their dismal tour of Australia to try and reclaim The Ashes, they were scheduled to tour the West Indies and play five T20 internationals. The sqaud that was chosen to go to the Caribbean is missing some big names in the shape of Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Dawid Malan, and Jonny Bairstow as they were given time off to recuperate, but there are still some talented players on display. Going into the third T20I on Wednesday 26th of January, the series is tied at 1-1, so who do we think will take the lead? Read on and all will be revealed.

West Indies Team Preview

The West Indies have pretty much a full squad of players that they can choose from, with the exception of Andre Russell who is taking part in the Bangladesh Premier League. The clear strength in this West Indies team is their batting, and it is safe to say that they bat all the way down the order. There are not many teams in world cricket that has such batting depth available to them.

In fact, Romario Shepherd and Akeal Hossain showed in the second ODI just how good they can be with the bat by taking Chris Jordan and Saqib Mahmood to the cleaners. With five overs of that game to go, the West Indies still needed 60 odd runs with few wickets remaining, so everyone thought the game was all but over. However, a quick fire 44 from Shepherd and Hossain kept things interesting and England won by a solitary run in the end.

If you are thinking about doing some online cricket betting in the third T20I, and want to bet on a Top Batsman for the West Indies, then putting your money on Shepherd might not be a bad idea. He has shown how hard he can hit a ball and is in really good form at the moment, which is more than can be said for some of the specialised batsmen further up the order. Also, since he bats at number seven in the order, there will be some great odds on him ending up as his team's top scorer.

Some might argue that their bowling attack is a bit average, but they have shown some glimpses of quality over the first two matches. In the first match they put on a top-quality display and bowled a strong England line-up out for a little more than 100, while in the second match they restricted the English to 171, when it looked like they might be on for 190-200 at one stage.

Jason Holder has been bowling really well, picking up 4 wickets for 7 runs in the first match and 2 wickets for 25 in the second. The likes of Sheldon Cottrell, Shepherd, and Hosein have also shown that they are more than handy with the ball in hand. If you want to make a cricket match prediction for the best West Indies bowler in the third T20I, we recommend that you put your money on Holder since the English batsmen seem to struggle with his height.

With the series at 1-1 and everything still to play for, we do not think that the West Indies will make any changes to their starting XI for the third match of the series.

England Team Preview

England fans would have been relieved to switch back to T20I cricket after the mauling that their Test team received Down Under, but those who tuned in late for the first T20I would have been forgiven for thinking that they were watching highlights of The Ashes.

England found themselves at 49/7 with just over eight overs to go and were staring down the barrel of being bowled out for their lowest ever T20I score. Some late hitting lower down the order from Chris Jordan and Adil Rashid at least ensured that they made it to three figures, but the West Indies top order chased it down with consummate ease.

This definitely shocked the England team and their fans, but thankfully they only had to wait 24 hours before they were given the chance to put things right. In the second match, Jason Roy showed his class by smashing 45 from 31 balls, which included 24 in one over. Moeen Ali chipped in with 31 from 24, while Jordan added a very important 27 from 15. England finished their 20 overs with a decent score of 171.

If you are going to be betting at cricket betting sites and are looking for a market to bet on, then we suggest you look at the top scorer for England and put your money on Roy or Ali.

When it comes to their bowling attack, it is safe to say that in the shape of Rashid and Ali that they have two of the best spin bowlers in T20I cricket. In the second match, Rashid, in particular, was bowling balls that the West Indies batsmen had no clue how to play. Between them they bowled eight overs and picked up five wickets for 48 runs. Tymal Mills was dropped for the second game and replaced with Reece Topley, who bowled really well and picked up figures of 1 wicket for 18 runs from the four overs he bowled.

While we think the West Indies will not make any changes, we think that England will make a couple to their batting line-up. James Vince has underperformed in both games so could be replaced by Phil Salt, while we expect Liam Livingstone to come into the team instead of Liam Dawson.

Toss Prediction

The West Indies captain has won the toss in the opening two matches and in both of them he has inserted England into bat first. We believe that whoever wins the toss for the third match will do exactly the same thing and invite their opponents to bat first. This is because both sides have strong batting and prefer to chase when given the opportunity.

Pitch and Conditions

The forecast for Barbados is excellent, so there should not be any delays or cancellation on Wednesday. We are expecting a similar type of wicket, so it should be one that offers a bit to both the batsmen and the bowlers. However, the bowlers need to make sure that they bowl in the right areas, or they will be dispatched all over the stadium. The team that bats first will be aiming to score around 170, which is about par.

Our Match Prediction

The West Indies have a really dangerous batting line-up that bats deep, and they have some players who are capable of winning a match on their own, but we feel that England's bowling attack is slightly better than the West Indies, and this should sway the game in their favour.

Our match prediction: