6th June offers a cracker of a fixture in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2019. The Tenth match of the tournament is certainly a swashbuckling not to miss game that has two heavy weights Australia and West Indies locking horns in the preliminary league in Nottingham’s Trent Bridge cricket grounds.
Australia has a distinguished legacy having won the World Cup title a record five times. The first time they were World Champions was at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens in 1987, when they beat England by 7 runs.
The Aussies dominated World cricket from 1999 onward winning three back to back World Cup titles in 1999, 2003 and 2007. The Kangaroos were Runner Up in 1975 and 1996 respectively making their appearance in the World Cup Finals to 7 times.
Australia beat Pakistan in at the Lords Cricket grounds by 8 wickets for their second World Cup and followed it up in 2003 with a win against India by 125 runs at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. The Australian domination continued in the 2007 World Cup when they outdid Sri Lanka in the finals by 53 runs at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.
Australia won their 5th World Cup title at home in the Melbourne Cricket Ground when they outclassed New Zealand in the final by 7 wickets. They enter the 2019 edition of the World Cup as defending champions and are slowly winning the hearts of the crowds as firm favorites for the title once again.
On the other hand West Indies are the Champions of the World Cup in the first edition in 1975 when they outclassed Australia by 17 runs to claim the Title of World Champions. They repeated their world cup winning feat by annexing the World Cup in the next edition when they beat hosts England by 92 runs.
The Windies were denied a treble in 1983 when India won their first world cup and shocking the Caribbean side with a 43 run victory at the Lords.
This year defending champions Australia looked weary to defend the title. But in the opening game against Afghanistan on June 1, they left no room for any doubts and demolished their inexperienced opponents by 7 runs in Bristol.
Afghanistan fell like a pack of cards under their bowling prowess and were all out for 207 in 38.2 overs. Australia romped home with 209/3 in 24.5 overs to pocket the 2 points with the win.
West Indies too have begun their World Cup campaign this year showing one and all that their claim to the World Cup title was packed with a big punch. They dismantled a hapless Pakistan in their opening fixture on May 31 and almost instilled fear in the opposition teams.
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Pakistan were warming up their seats in the pavilion with no idea of what struck them as they collapsed to 105 all out in 21.4 overs. The Windies chased down the target in 13.4 overs to win by 7 wickets.
Head to Head World Cup Statistics
Australia and West Indies have faced each other 9 times in world cup history. Windies have won 5 of the 9 ties and the Aussies emerging victorious on 4 occasions.
While the West Indies hold a statistical advantage in numbers, Australia have won all three of their last four engagements, where the Caribbean side have not won against Australia since 1996.
Predictions and Expectations:
While the Australian batsmen led by captain Aaron Finch who scored 66 of 49 balls, opener Usman Khawaja, with Steven Smith, were in top from against Afghanistan. The reassurance came through David Warner’s return for his first match after ball tampering ban with a match wining 89.
In the Bowling department, Adam Zampa with 3/60 and Pat Cummins with 3/40 were the pick of the Aussie Bowling attack that tore through the Afghan line up.
West Indies on the other hand have been described as devastating and ruthless. Their power-packed performance against former world champions Pakistan with the bat and ball was simply outstanding. The Windies boast of some of the hard hitters in the world in master blaster Chris Gayle who smashed 50 in 34 balls was joined by Nicholas Pooran’s 9 ball 34.
The ball is weapon capable of mass destruction when it comes to the West Indies. Skipper Jason Holder scalped 3 wickets against Pakistan while Andre Russell claimed 2. The pick of demolition squad was 22 year old Oshane Thomas whose right arm fast bowling had wrecked the Pakistan batting with a match figures of 4 wickets for 27 runs in 5.2 overs.
In short, expect firecrackers to fly sky-high in this clash of the Titans fixture of the 2019 edition of the Cricket world Cup. It’s Match On!!!!!
West Indies Men’s Cricket Team: Jason Holder (c), Evin Lewis, Darren Bravo, Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite, Nicholas Pooran, Oshane Thomas, Shai Hope (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Fabien Allen, Sheldon Cottrell, Shannon Gabriel, Kemar Roach, Ashley Nurse
Australian Men’s Cricket Team: Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith, Shaun Marsh, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (wk), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jason Behrendorff, Kane Richardson, Nathan Lyon, Adam Zampa, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins