West Indies look to hit back

Australia ran out comfortable winners of the first one-day international against West Indies on Tuesday but the home side should not be too disappointed and are well capable of hitting back to level the five-match series by winning the second match on Friday.

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A combination of a strong start by the Aussie openers and a good new-ball spell from Brett Lee did for West Indies and they were always unlikely to chase down 274 on a ground that does not often see big one-day scores.

The West Indies batting did not fire and they will need to do so in Grenada on Friday if they are to level the series, but the way they have played over the past few weeks means their confidence should not be too dented.

True, they have won only four of the eight one-dayers to be played at St George's - and they lost both matches there to the Aussies last time in 2003 - but they have a good young team who have shown that they can bounce back.

Bet365 naturally make Australia 1/3 favourites to go 2-0 up, while West Indies are 9/4.

West Indies need a good start to avoid putting too much pressure on the likes of talented all-rounder Dwayne Bravo down the order.

Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul are joint favourites to top-score at 3/1, while opener Xavier Marshall and Ramnaresh Sarwan are 4/1, with Bravo himself 11/2.

Shaun Marsh, who excelled on his one-day debut on Tuesday, is joint favourite at 3/1 with his captain Ricky Ponting to top-score for West Indies, while Shane Watson is 9/2. Michael Hussey and Michael Clarke are 5/1 and Andrew Symonds is 13/2.

For the record, it is 13 years since they did beat Australia in a one-day series in the Caribbean, but interestingly, in 1999 it was 3-3 and the last time they met, in 2003, they were edged out 4-3, so they will believe they can do it.

Please note that odds are correct at time of publication and are subject to change.