Will England rue the World Cup omission of David Willey against West Indies?

Although the West Indies have technically played three matches at the ICC Cricket World Cup, we’re yet to really gain a clear summary on the capabilities of their batting unit.

They required only 14 overs to chase 106 for the loss of three wickets in their tournament opener with Sri Lanka and didn’t bat at all when rain virtually washed out their entire encounter with South Africa.

Therefore, the only real evidence collected so far came in their 15-run defeat at Trent Bridge to Australia, where they came up short in their pursuit of 288.

England are 3/10 in the Cricket World Cup match betting to inflict a second defeat on the Windies, while it’s 5/2 that Eoin Morgan’s men suffer their second, following the previous reverse to Pakistan.

The main thing that has been noticeable is that the Windies have been most susceptible against left-arm seam in the tournament thus far.

West Indies vs left-arm seamers

The West Indies batting unit have faced 28 overs of right-hand seam bowling in the tournament to date and in those overs they have racked up 168 runs for the loss of only two wickets. That equates to a scoring rate of exactly a run a ball.

On the flip side, their record against left-arm seam hasn’t been so devastating.

Against Pakistan, Mohammad Amir was responsible for all three wickets, going for only 26 runs in six overs in the process.

Then, against Australia, Mitchell Starc ended his spell with figures of 5-46. That’s eight wickets taken for just 72 runs. What’s more, both were responsible for the prized wicket of Chris Gayle.

Chris Gayle has twice been dismissed by left-arm seamers at the World Cup so far

Unfortunately for England, they opted against including left-arm seamer David Willey in their World Cup squad, despite the diversity such a pick offered.

Picking Jofra Archer and Mark Wood as the front-line seam attack made sense due to their extra pace, while Liam Plunkett is regarded as one of the best middle-over wicket takers in world cricket. Ben Stokes was also a certainty because of his superior batting.

However, picking both Chris Woakes and Tom Curran at the expense of Willey left England lacking dimensions in their seam attack and this lack of variety may end up being a decisive factor against the Windies.

For those expecting Gayle to take advantage, we’re offering Enhanced Odds of 5/1 (from 4/1) that he scores a century in the match.