Australia have been warned to be wary of being "kidnapped" by the West Indies in a game Pat Cummins has tipped to be a high-scoring slug-fest.
Veteran opener Chris Gayle, provided he is passed fit, will look to bully the Australians – he is averaging a six every 10 balls in his past 23 innings – but Cummins said the world champions were ready for him.
"Yeah, it is always a great challenge playing against Mr Worldwide, or whatever he calls himself – Universe Boss," Cummins said.
The Urban Development Corporation of T&T has introduced T10 cricket to T&T with the launch of a tournament for the shortest format of the game set to take place from June 7-9.
At the launch on Wednesday in the Siparia Room at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Port-of-Spain, it was revealed that the tournament will take place in its entirety at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, San Fernando. According to organisers, it has attracted and promises to show off some of limited over cricket’s best local and regional stars.
Having either missed or opted out of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup taking place in England and Wales, West Indies stars, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard and Sunil Narine will instead occupy their time in the UDECOTT competition.
Australia will scrutinise Andre Russell's batting technique and ability to handle the short ball ahead of what shapes as a fiery World Cup clash against the rejuvenated West Indies.
Russell has lifted the intensity heading into Thursday's game by declaring the Australians can expect a barrage of short balls at Trent Bridge, similar to how the West Indies flattened Pakistan last week, prompting the great Viv Richards to declare even he had never seen so many bouncers in a match.
The Australians have responded verbally in kind and it's understood they will pay particular attention to the way all-rounder Russell handles deliveries aimed at his upper body and head.
Oshane Thomas led with the ball and Chris Gayle did the damage with the bat, as the West Indies registered a commanding 7 wicket victory over Pakistan in their opening game of the 2019 Cricket World Cup at Trent Bridge.
Gayle struck an even 50 runs from 34 balls, to ease the Caribbean men across the line at 108 for 3, after an impressive showing from the Windies seamers, who bundled out the Pakistanis for 105 off 31.4 overs, this after skipper Jason Holder invited them to take first strike on a bouncy Trent Bridge pitch.
With an average first innings total of 361 over the past five years; when WINDIES took on Pakistan at Trent Bridge–with Gayle, Hope, Babar and Fakhar all on show–headlines were expected to be written with the bat. As the Caribbean seamers would have it, they were written in Dukes’ white instead.
Jason Holder called the toss correctly and backed his batsmen to chase whatever target Pakistan would set. The Pakistani innings got going with a first-ball wide from Sheldon Cottrell. And though the left-arm seamers went on to beat the bat a few times before getting the chance to unveil his salute on the biggest stage; both he and Jason Holder were far too wayward with the new-ball.
The captain removed himself from the attack following his expensive start, being replaced by Andre Russell. The pace of the Jamaican took the Pakistani batsmen by surprise in what was a game-changing spell of 2 for 4 from 3, from the all-rounder.
