West Indies look to announce themselves in style

Overview

South Africa v West Indies

Bristol County Ground
2019 ICC Cricket World Cup Warm-up
Sunday 26 May, 10:30 local time, 10:30 BST

Windies come into their first official ICC Men's World Cup warm-up on back of mixed fortunes. While they trounced hosts Ireland in each of their two games in the tri-series, they were outclassed on all three occasions by Bangladesh, including in the final.

However, they were not playing their full strength side in that series and stalwarts like Chris Gayle, Andre Russell and Nicholas Pooran among others, were absent. With them back in the fold, Windies look a lot more well-rounded outfit although they were beaten rather convincingly by Australia in an unofficial warm-up fixture two days ago.

The Windies batting has a pretty robust feel about it. The likes of Gayle, Russell, Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer and Evin Lewis are able to play big shots for breakfast, while Darren Bravo and Shai Hope are capable of holding things down.

It is their bowling that looks a touch off-colour. Skipper Jason Holder's recent rise in Test cricket hasn't reflected in his ODI numbers. Kemar Roach picked a whole bunch of wickets in the tri-series and while Shannon Gabriel was also among the wickets, not too many of those came against Bangladesh.

They will be up against a confident South Africa, who come into the game on back of a resounding 87-run win against Sri Lanka in their first warm-up. The Proteas seem to have covered all bases, but will want their batsmen to get some more runs.

Key Players

Andile Phehlukwayo (South Africa): The seam-bowler has been an unsung hero for South Africa, considering his lack of express pace, but he has been one of the team's more reliable performers. Since the start of 2018, he has picked up 31 wickets at 26.06 and has also scored 278 runs at 30.88, more than handy for a lower-order batsman. In the Sri Lanka warm-up, he excelled in both areas, taking four wickets and scoring a solid 35.

Andre Russell (West Indies): The all-rounder was in unreal form during the recently-concluded Indian Premier League, smacking 510 runs from 13 innings at 56.66, striking at 204.81. He scored only five in the unofficial warm-up against Australia, but will be keen to put that away as a minor blip.

Conditions

We're looking at overcast conditions for most part of the day, but chances of showers are relatively low. The pitch at the County Ground is generally a belter, but things can get pretty exciting for the seamers once the clouds converge overhead.

Squads:

South Africa: Faf du Plessis (capt), Quinton de Kock, Imran Tahir, David Miller, JP Duminy, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Aiden Markram, Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn, Dwaine Pretprius, Rassie van der Dussen, Hashim Amla

West Indies: Jason Holder (c), Chris Gayle, Kemar Roach, Darren Bravo, Andre Russell, Shai Hope, Sheldon Cottrell, Evin Lewis, Shannon Gabriel, Carlos Brathwaite, Ashley Nurse, Shimron Hetmyer, Fabian Allen, Oshane Thomas, Nicholas Pooran