Bridgetown: West Indies will be looking to get back to winning ways when they take on Australia in the second and final Twenty20, having suffered an eight-wicket thrashing in the first match of the series in St Lucia. After squaring the one-day series, Australia kept their winning momentum going by easily chasing down a target of 151 to go one up. Shane Watson sparkled with an innings of 69 after allrounder Daniel Christian took 3 for 27 to restrict the West Iindies to 150 for 7 off their 20 overs. Michael Hussey also chipped in with a useful 59, and added 108 for the second wicket with Watson, after David Warner fell for a duck in the first over.
The major change as far as West Indies are concerned is the inclusion of middle-order batsman Danza Hyatt in place of Darren Bravo, who misses out because of poor form. Bravo made 12 in the first T20, and totaled only 48 in five innings, in the preceding ODI series. Having played out an intriguing ODI series against the four-time world champions which ended in a 2-2 result, West Indies will once again be looking to end with honours even, which would be a major boost ahead of the four-Test series which gets underway on April 7.
AFP
However, the Australians have had the wood over West Indies in the six T20 internationals contested by the two teams in head-to-head meetings. After losing the first couple of matches, they have gone on to beat the Windies in the subsequent four matches, which included the win in St Lucia. The batting form of captain, Darren Sammy has been a rather refreshing change for the home side in the ongoing series. Though he failed in the first T20, scoring just seven, Sammy averaged 53.33 in the five ODIs with a highest score of 84, which all but won his side the match in the deciding one-dayer. He will be the key to West Indies' chances of securing victory at Barbados and levelling the series.
Australia on their part will be depending on their top three in the batting order - Warner, Watson and Michael Hussey to lead the charge and a 2-0 wrap of the T20 series. The bowling is in good hands with Brett Lee, James Pattinson - making a comeback to the team after a lengthy injury lay-off, and Clint McKay leading the pace attack, with Watson to follow, and left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty to slow things up.
Probable XIs:
West Indies: 1 Johnson Charles, 2 Dwayne Smith, 3 Marlon Samuels, 4 Danza Hyatt, 5 Kieron Pollard, 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Darren Sammy (capt), 8 Carlton Baugh (wk), 9 Sunil Narine, 10 Krishmar Santokie, 11 Fidel Edwards
Australia: 1 David Warner, 2 Shane Watson, 3 Michael Hussey, 4 George Bailey (capt), 5 Matthew Wade (wk), 6 David Hussey, 7 Daniel Christian, 8 Clint McKay, 9 Xavier Doherty, 10 Brett Lee, 11 James Pattinson
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