International Cricket: West Indies vs. Australia 7/10/21 T20 Cricket Prediction

Australia’s tour of the West Indies continues with the Second T20 International played on Saturday July 10th, 2021. The match is scheduled to be played at 7:30PM EST.

The West Indies snatched victory from the jaws of defeat on Friday as they stunned Australia to take a lead in the 5 match series. The Australians seemed destined for victory when they needed just 40 runs from the last 10 overs with six wickets in hand. It was expected that they would stroll to victory there but some phenomenal performances from Obed McCoy and Haydn Walsh Jr sealed the dramatic win for the hosts. Australia is the higher ranked team and will be out for revenge here in the 2nd ODI, but their confidence will have taken a huge hit. Can the even the series here or will the home side extend their lead to 2-0?

The West Indies are ranked 8th in the T20 rankings, a shockingly low ranking given their talent pool in this format. Their biggest struggle has always been their consistency, as they are known to be virtually unbeatable one day and then lose to minnows the next. They headed into this series as the underdogs against a weakened Australia side, but will be backing themselves since they have world beaters such as Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell. They received a blow when captain Kieron Pollard was ruled out with an injured hamstring, forcing the inexperienced Nicholas Pooran to lead the team. They found themselves in a huge hole early on, at 65-4 after 12 overs, and it seemed that they would struggle to put up a competitive. Some late big hitting by Andre Russell and the steady hand of Shimron Hetmeyer allowed them to post a respectable total of 145-6, but at this stage they were the massive underdogs to win.

Australia is on this tour of the West Indies without big names such as Steve Smith and David Warner which certainly weakens them, but they have a solid core of players like Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Ashton Agar who will be expected to lead the side to victory. After restricting the West Indies to a paltry 145-6 in their 20 overs, they were cruising along at 115-5 with plenty of balls in hand, due to a blazing half century from Mitchell Marsh and a quick-fire 33 by Matthew Wade. They were a certain lock to take a lead in the series when they inexplicably self-imploded, losing the last seven wickets for 38 runs to hand the West Indies the 18 run win and a 1-0 lead in the series. It really was stunning, and the coaching staff will not be happy about it. It remains to be seen what changes they will make ahead of game 2, but Australia will be out for blood here as they aim to level the series.

This is a difficult call to make. Australia were the better team for about 75% of game 1, but shockingly threw the match away. It will be a demoralizing loss for them, and it will be tough to recover from it in less than 24 hours before the start of game 2. The West Indies really need to count their blessings as they did not deserve to win that one, and both teams will likely be much improved tomorrow. I expect a much better performance from both teams, but I am backing the West Indies to win. If Kieron Pollard returns he will bolster their batting, and Chris Gayle will likely be the man to give way. Australia may stick with the same team despite the loss, and I see them losing a second consecutive match but in a better performance.