Bangladesh v West Indies, Group A, Johannesburg

West Indies look to tighten up their act

Cricinfo staff

September 12, 2007

Chris Gayle already has the only Twenty20 hundred. What's next? © Getty Images

After Chris Gayle murdered the South African bowling for the first Twenty20 century, West Indies bowled with such indiscipline against a rampant Herschelle Gibbs that a game that should have been won was lost. They need to sort out their catching, and their bowling, and the Bangladesh game could well be the chance to do it. On the other hand, already with one loss, and Bangladesh having some batsmen who can do some serious damage over short periods of time, West Indies can't afford to take the result for granted.

Bat play: Mohammad Ashraful's biggest problem in Test and ODI cricket has been his inability to curb his natural stroke-making tendencies. There will, however, be no need to hold back in the Twenty20s and in Aftab Ahmed he has another batsman capable of hitting the ball clean and long.

West Indies have Gayle powering them at the top of the order, but the likes of Dwayne Bravo, who did not have a good first game, and Dwayne Smith, are good bets to hit the cover off the ball. And there's Marlon Samuels, that eternal mystery of West Indian cricket, sublime some days and rather silly on others.

Wrecking ball :Fidel Edwards and Daren Powell bowled with genuine pace on a flat deck at the Wanderers and in most conditions they can trouble batsmen. The problem is, there's a good chance they'll go for runs as well. Bangladesh have a line-up full of strokemakers, and sheer pace could play a big part.

If West Indies have pace Bangladesh have swing in the left-arm of Syed Rasel. He bends the ball back into right-handed batsmen and if conditions help him, can be hard to negotiate.

Keep your eyes on: Mashrafe Mortaza has been a taslismanic all-round cricketer for Bangladesh and has played a part in more than one upset. And there's Gayle - can you really afford to keep your eyes off him in this version of the game?

Pitching it right: A good batting track, a touch on the dry side, the Wanderers is a place where you get bang for buck as far as playing shots goes. A quick outfield means that batsmen only have to beat the infield to pick up four.

West Indies (likely) Chris Gayle, Devon smith, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Dwayne Smith, Daren Powell, Ravi Rampaul, Fidel Edwards

Bangladesh (likely) Tamim Iqbal, Nazimuddin, Aftab Ahmed, Mohammad Ashraful (capt), Shakib Al Hasan, Alok Kapali, Farhad Reza, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mashrafe Mortaza, Syed Rasel, Abdur Razzaq

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