International Cricket : West Indies vs. Sri Lanka 3/12/2021 Cricket Prediction

The West Indies face Sri Lanka in the second match of their One Day International (ODI Series) at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. The match is scheduled to be played on Friday March 12th, 2021 at 9:30am EST.

West Indies lead the three match series 1-0 after their comprehensive 8 wickets in the first match and will be looking to wrap the series up with a victory here. Can Sri Lanka get the win and force a decider?

The West Indies were very impressive in their win in the first ODI and will be looking to carry that momentum into the second. After being up against it with the Sri Lanka openers putting on a century stand, they rebounded very well to reduce them to 232 all out, which was never going to be enough given the depth of their batting. Shai Hope and Evin Lewis had a century opening stand of their own to ensure that the West Indies were never in doubt of winning here. After his brilliant century they will again lean on Shai Hope to lead the batting attack, but they need Nicholas Pooran to find some form after a poor series thus far. The West Indies are unlikely to make any changes to this side and enter this match as the firm favorites. 

Sri Lanka will have been very disappointed in the way that they collapsed after being in a very strong batting position and will be looking to make amends here. Their strength is certainly in their bowling, with Hasaranga being the key here. They will desperately need to put a solid score on the board to give their bowlers something to defend here given the strength of the West Indies batting line-up. They are likely to make a change here to strengthen the batting, perhaps swapping Mendis out for an extra batsman as the pitch will seemingly favor the seamers. They certainly have the quality in their ranks to get the win but the batting will be critical here. 

While I expect a much improved performance from Sri Lanka, I think that the West Indies will again be too strong here. The Sri Lankans will be highly motivated after the controversy in the first match and this match should be a lot closer, but expect the West Indies to seal the series with a hard fought win here in Antigua.