Hayden Walsh Jr will look to cap his memorable series with more wickets
Big Picture
The fourth match of the series was a thoroughly entertaining T20 from start to finish: plenty of thundering strokeplay, some impressive spin bowling, an astonishing late onslaught and then a classy final over as Australia clung on for a win. They will now be looking to take that confidence boost into the final game and then the ODIs which follow in Barbados next week.
West Indies also have another five-match series when they face Pakistan and could look to experiment in one or two slots. Oshane Thomas struggled on Wednesday – his second over costing 25 and including two no-balls – while Akeal Hosein was drafted in as another spin option. The five overs between Thomas, Hosein and Simmons cost 71 as the attack missed the experience of the rested Dwayne Bravo.
Form guide
(last five completed matches)
West Indies LWWWL
Australia WLLLL
In the spotlight
Andre Fletcher has not had a great time against Australia with scores of 9, 4 and 6. In the fourth game he slipped down the order to No. 4 in the absence of the injured Shimron Hetymer and his 6 off 14 stifled West Indies’ early momentum and also appeared to impact Simmons’ fluency. If Fletcher is to be a utility batter in the World Cup squad he needs to show a little more adaptability.
Team news
Kieron Pollard, Fidel Edwards, Obed McCoy and Shimron Hetymer have all been nursing injuries at stages during the series which reduces the options available. Bravo could return after being rested which would strengthen all departments.
West Indies (possible) 1 Lendl Simmons, 2 Evin Lewis, 3 Chris Gayle, 4 Andre Fletcher, 5 Nicholas Pooran (capt & wk), 6 Andre Russell, 7 Fabian Allen, 8 Hayden Walsh Jr, 9 Akeal Hosein, 10 Oshane Thomas, 11 Sheldon Cottrell
AJ Tye, Mitchell Swepson, Wes Agar are the three players from the squad who have yet to have any match time. Tye or Agar could be an option to replace Meredith if they want to take him out of the spotlight, but equally he could continue his development in the middle. Ben McDermott and Ashton Agar have been carrying niggles. They could consider giving Josh Philippe another go in the middle order.
Australia (possible) 1 Aaron Finch, 2 Matthew Wade (wk), 3 Mitchell Marsh, 4 Alex Carey, 5 Moises Henrqiues, 6 Ashton Turner, 7 Dan Christian, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Riley Meredith, 10 Adam Zampa, 11 Jason Behrendorff
Pitch and conditions
Aside from Starc’s last over, where he got his yorkers in, pace off the ball was the key. Overall, though, the surfaces have been good for batting. There were some brief showers during the previous match which are an increasing chance now the rainy season has arrived.
Stats and trivia
Quotes
“Hayden Walsh has bowled really well, we probably haven’t played him as well as we’d like. If we had our time again we’d probably have better game plans to him or hit his bad balls a little better. Something that we’ve spoken about.”
Adam Zampa
Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo