West Indies opt to bowl first against Australia

Nottingham, June 6 : West Indies won the toss and opted to bowl first against defending world champions Australia in their second match of the ongoing ICC Men’s World Cup at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on Thursday.

Both of West Indies and Australia won in their first game. While West Indies outplayed Pakistan by seven wickets, Australia won their match by the same margin against Afghanistan.

To back his decision to bat first, West Indies captain Jason Holder said the wicket is offering some early advantage for the bowlers, and this is why he opted to bowl first.

“It is a good wicket and we are hoping for some early wickets. We want to be disciplined in both of the departments. We want to continue to play some good cricket. I think it is going to be a good surface. We just have to be aggressive. We have made one change in our team, Evin Lewis comes in and Darren Bravo misses out,” Holder told while performing the toss.

Aaron Finch, on the other hand, said he would have opted to bat first as well. The Australian captain said the wicket is looked good to him for the batsman but at the late, the spinners might get some help from the surface.

“I wanted to bat first anyway on this wicket. It looks dry and hopefully, it will assist spinners late in the game. Confidence in the camp has made a difference and we have stepped up our game in crucial moments,” Finch told the broadcaster.

West Indies (Playing XI): Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Shai Hope(w), Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Andre Russell, Jason Holder(c), Carlos Brathwaite, Ashley Nurse, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas

Australia (Playing XI): Aaron Finch(c), David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey(w), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa