After thumping Afghanistan in their ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 opener, Australia are set for an uphill task against the West Indies at Trent Bridge on Thursday. Both the sides were at their menacing best in their opening encounters and clinically thrashed their opponents.
The Aussies registered a convincing seven-wicket win over Afghanistan. The bowlers, especially the pacers, were on song as they restricted Afghan Tigers to 207. In reply, Finch and David Warner showed signs of being in great form as both scored half-centuries and rang alarming bells for the opposition.
On the other hand, Windies demolished the Pakistani batting line-up with a barrage of short-pitch deliveries and ultimately bowled them out for mere 105.
Oshane Thomas returned with 4-27, while captain Jason Holder and Andre Russell shared five wickets between them before Windies clinched a seven-wicket win over Pakistan.
Australia are wary of the fact that Windies line-up boast of having some of the biggest hitters in world cricket at the moment and it would really require some effort from the Aussie pacers to control the likes of Chris Gayle, Russell and Carlos Brathwaite.
Meanwhile, head coach Justin Langer has hinted that Australia, in all likelihood, will go in with the same XI that featured against Afghanistan.
Squads
Australia: Aaron Finch (captain), Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Steve Smith, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (wicketkeeper), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Kane Richardson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Lyon, Adam Zampa
West Indies: Jason Holder (captain), Andre Russell, Ashley Nurse, Carlos Brathwaite, Chris Gayle, Darren Bravo, Evin Lewis, Fabian Allen, Kemar Roach, Nicholas Pooran (wicketkeeper), Oshane Thomas, Shai Hope, Shannon Gabriel, Sheldon Cottrell, Shimron Hetmyer