West Indies will host Zimbabwe in the first ODI of the five match series at Providence in Guyana. The one-off T20I between the two sides was lost by the home team and they will be gunning for revenge, and hence can be expected to come hard at the Zimbabwean side. >
The West Indies side has undergone a change and for obvious reasons. Expecting Denesh Ramdin to continue leading the side would be foolhardy and that brings in Chris Gayle, whose break has been cut short thanks to the loss. There is also no place for Darren Bravo who had got a first-ball duck in the T20 match. >
The West Indian side should open the innings with Adrian Barath, and with Chris Gayle at the tow, things will get easier for the youngster. As compared to this, Zimbabwe will hope that their batsmen put up a far better show than they did in the T20. Of course, the pitch was anything but suitable for smashing strokeplay in the T20I, but one could have easily got to anything more than the 100 that they got.
The two sides have not played in an ODI for the last 27 months, and in the last series that the two sides were involved in had resulted in a 3-1 win for the West Indies. However, the Zimbabweans have won eight games in the ODI version of the game, which will given them confidence in this match as well.
West Indies goes into the game as firm favourites despite the T20I loss, with Stan James offering 1/4 for their win, as compared to 10/3 at Totesport to make it 1-0 for the visitors.