Australia vs West Indies 1st T20 Preview – 2012
West Indies, Australia all set to battle for T20 glory
Match: West Indies vs. Australia
Location: Gros Islet, St Lucia, West Indies
Date & Time: March 27th, 18:00 GMT
It’s a credit to the way the West Indies have played in the 5 match ODI series against Australia that Australian fans are the ones relieved after the series ended in a 2-2 draw. West Indies missed a couple of chances to win an ODI series against Australia after 17 years. In the third ODI West Indies needed 1 run from 3 balls with the captain at the crease however a misunderstanding resulted in a wicket and Australia snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat. Then the hosts entered the last ODI knowing that a win would ensure a series victory and they would have gotten the win if Captain Darren Sammy had gotten support from the rest of the batting lineup.
However what is done is done now and the West Indies should be happy with their effort. While the Aussie fans might be relieved Australian captain Shane Watson was extremely disappointed by how the series panned out.
“There’s disappointment, there’s no doubt, to tie the series,” he said after the 5th ODI. “Especially when we were in a number of those games at a stage where we should’ve really buried the West Indies, it’s very disappointing. But it’s a big learning curve for us; we have to get better at those stages, because that’s where we’re really going to grow as a team.
“After the last game we sat down and talked about exactly the plans we were going to have, we didn’t execute them exactly how we wanted to, but at least we’ve got some good plans and we understand the ways we’re going to go about it.”
Watson has also termed the T20 series as an important one as both teams prepare for the T20 world cup in September in Sri Lanka. After these T20s in West Indies, Australia will only play only 3 more T20s against Pakistan before the T20 world cup.
Both teams have made a few major changes to their squads. Australia has brought back James Pattinson to the squad to add fire power to their squad and have also recalled all rounder Dan Christian. Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Forrest have been dropped from the squad.
Dwayne Smith is the big name to return to the squad and the all rounder will be looking to make a big impact on his return. Fast bowler Fidel Edwards, left-arm medium-pace bowler Krishmar Santokie, left-arm spinner Garey Mathurin and allrounder Nkrumah Bonner have also been added to the squad. Adrian Barath, Tino Best, Kemar Roach and Devendra Bishoo are the players that have been dropped from the team.
Squads for the T20s
West Indies: Darren Sammy (captain), Dwayne Bravo, Carlton Baugh, Nkrumah Bonner, Darren Bravo, Johnson Charles, Fidel Edwards, Garey Mathurin, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Andrew Russell, Marlon Samuels, Krishmar Santokie, Dwayne Smith
Australia: George Bailey (captain), Shane Watson, Daniel Christian, Xavier Doherty, Peter Forrest, David Hussey, Michael Hussey, Brett Lee, Nathan Lyon, Clint McKay, Peter Nevill, James Pattinson, Matthew Wade, David Warner.
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