Aussies face must-win challenge
When: June 21, 23:00 BDT
Where: Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
The washout on Sunday (June 19) against South Africa has complicated the equation for Australia, who now go into their final league match in a must-win situation.
A loss for Steven Smith's men against West Indies will make the final league match, between the hosts and South Africa, merely an academic affair.
On the other hand, Jason Holder's men are sailing in a similar boat as well. While a loss will not technically dump them out of the tournament, they will then have to beat South Africa by a bonus point, a task which looks tough on paper.
Australia's batting was a huge let-down in their last completed game, against West Indies, in St. Kitts.
They were cruising along at one stage, only to falter in the final third of their innings and set up a chase which wasn't out of bounds for the host batsmen.
If the batting in the last half was inadequate, the fielding and catching left a lot to be desired, with Usman Khawaja reprieving both West Indies openers.
Understandably, the Australian skipper wasn't pleased with the efforts and called upon his team to main their high standards. With the final on the line, can Australia be at their best in all the three departments of the game?
While Australia haven't looked sharp, hosts West Indies have blown hot and cold right throughout the tournament. Every win was followed by a disastrous thumping in the very next game.
The two hammerings - one each, at the hands of Australia and South Africa, gave their opposition a bonus point victory, something that might well come back to haunt the men from the Caribbean Islands.
They have batted well in patches - Kieron Pollard, in the win against South Africa at Guyana and Marlon Samuels, against Australia, in St. Kitts. Sunil Narine has been handy with the ball - but the team as a whole has struggled to match performance with consistency.
Team News: Australia welcomed back Mitchell Starc and Glenn Maxwell for Sunday's washout against South Africa. They are unlikely to tinker with the playing XI for their final league match.
The hosts have a reduced 13-man squad after the omission of pacer, Jerome Taylor, for the Barbados leg of the tournament. The conditions might just nudge them to play an extra pacer in the form of Shannon Gabriel, ahead of left-arm spinner, Suliemann Benn.
What to expect:
Unlike Sunday's washout, rain isn't expected to be a factor on Tuesday. The sun will be out, amidst some cloudy weather and the temperature is expected to be in the region of 26 degrees to 30 degrees celsius.
Who said what:
"We haven't done ourselves any favours in a sense that we haven't got ourselves automatically into the final like we would have liked, so it's good to see guys under pressure" - Australia's stand-in coach, Justin Langer, is happy to be put under the pump.
'We asked one of our top batsmen to bat as deep as possible into the innings but we haven't been able to get that' - West Indies captain, Jason Holder, has placed emphasis on his batsmen to deliver the goods.
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