Global T20 Round 2 : West Indies B vs Montreal Tigers, Preview and Playing XI
The first game of Round 2 of the Global T20 Canada 2018 will see table-toppers West Indies B Team go head-to-head with the bottom placed Montreal Tigers at the Maple Leaf North-West Ground in King City on July 10. Both teams earlier faced-off against each other in the fourth T20 match of the ongoing tournament. After winning the toss and electing to bat first, the Tigers had posted a good score of 183 but could not defend that total as the Windies B chased their target to win the match by two wickets and five balls to spare.
West Indies B Team : Windies B Team have already confirmed their place in the playoffs with eight points, and are currently positioned at the top of the leader board with four wins and one loss from five league matches. After winning their first four games in a row, they finally tasted defeat in their last game against Vancouver Knights. Chasing the Knights' 175, the West Indies B Team were rolled over for 140 in the 20th over to lose the match by 35 runs.
For Caribbeans, the onus will be on the likes of Sherfane Rutherford, Brandon King and Nicholas Pooran to take the team off to a brisk start. King is averaging 49 while Rutherford has a strike rate of over 145. Pooran hit a 35-ball 58 in the previous fixture against Tigers and the team will be expecting something similar from him. With the ball, Obed McCoy, the left-arm pacer and Dervel Green will pose a threat to the opposition. McCoy has been the standout bowler for the B Team with ten wickets, including three wickets last time against Montreal Boys, while Derval had a good outing against Vancouver Knights finishing with figures of 3-33.
Expected Playing XI : Anthony Bramble (C), Sherfane Rutherford, Obed McCoy, Dervel Green, Shamar Springer, Brandon King, Nicholas Pooran, Khary Pierre, Kavem Hodge, Fabian Allen and Alick Athanaze.
Montreal Tigers : On the flipside, Tigers are struggling big time in this inaugural edition of the GT20 and have had a poor run so far in the tournament, with just one win from five games, and are currently lying at the bottom in the league standings with a couple of points. Their solitary win came against the Edmonton Royals by 16 runs in the ninth match of the tournament.
For Montreal Boys, Moises Henriques and George Worker will hold the key to Montreal's batting. Both smashed a fifty each in the previous T20 against Toronto Nationals. While team will also expect strong contributions from their openers Sunil Narine and Dwayne Smith. With the ball, Skipper Lasith Malinga and Peter Siddle took two wickets each in the earlier encounter against the CWI B and is coming off a three-wicket haul in the last game against Toronto. Nepal's Sandeep Lamichhane has five wickets in four matches so far.
Expected Playing XI : Lasith Malinga (C), Dwayne Smith, Sunil Narine, Peter Siddle, George Worker, Kevon Cooper, Moises Henriques, Sikandar Raza, Najibullah Zadran, Denesh Ramdin and Sandeep Lamichhane.