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Gros Islet, St Lucia, Jul 19: Hello and welcome for the 3rd ODI between West Indies and Pakistan at St Lucia. The 5-match series is square at 1-1. Pakistan won the first one by a huge margin while West Indies put up a good show to defeat the vistors in the second game. The conditions are quite windy out there and more importantly the sun is shining brightly. It will be interesting to see the playing XIs of both the sides.

West Indies have won the toss and elected to field

Dwayne Bravo: 'We will bowl first. It is a new atmosphere and we will look to make use of the early moisture. Normally the wicket here is even. I don't think it is going to be a one sided game. Hopefully we will bowl well and try and steal some momentum from them. We are playing the same XI.'

Misbah: 'I think it is a good track. Records show that it stays good in both innings. The ball comes little slower in the first innings. But on the whole I think it will stay well. This pitch is different. The batting was mostly struggling. Hopefully we will do. We have two changes in the side. Junaid Khan is in for Asad Ali while Haris Sohail replaces Asad Shafiq.'

Teams:

West Indies (Playing XI): Chris Gayle, Johnson Charles(w), Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Bravo(c), Kieron Pollard, Darren Sammy, Kemar Roach, Sunil Narine, Jason Holder

Pakistan (Playing XI): Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Misbah-ul-Haq(c), Haris Sohail, Umar Akmal(w), Shahid Afridi, Wahab Riaz, Saeed Ajmal, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan

Match preview :

West Indies have resisted the temptation to ring the changes and go into the third One-Day International of the five-match series against Pakistan on Friday in St Lucia with the same squad that shared the honours with the visitors over the first two matches in Guyana.

There was much speculation that the selectors would have explored other options in both batting and bowling for the remaining three ODI's.

However they have chosen to keep with the same eleven that played both matches at Providence along with batsman Devon Smith and fast bowler Tino Best.

Despite being the most prolific batsman in domestic cricket in the Caribbean in 2013, Smith is considered fortunate to have been retained as he failed to score in both matches he played in the preceding Tri-Nation Series involving Sri Lanka and eventual winners India.

Best is considered less of a gamble, especially given the time of year that these matches are being played when pitches around the region are generally expected to be greener and offering more assistance to the pacers. With a 16-man travelling party, Pakistan have a wider pool from which to draw their final eleven and there is a strong case for Junaid Khan playing at the Beausejour Cricket Ground alongside fellow left-arm seamers Mohammad Irfan and Wahab Riaz.

His inclusion would likely be at the expense of Asad Ali, the right-armer who opened the bowling with the giant Irfan in the opening fixtures at Providence. In the batting department, the tourists remain as vulnerable as ever.

Contrasting half-centuries by Shahid Afridi and skipper Misbah-ul-Haq more than adequately compensated for the failure of the others in the line-up in the opening match last Sunday.

But in the second match two days later, poor shot selection - with Misbah and Afridi the chief culprits - paved the way for a West Indies win despite fifties by opener Nasir Jamshed and wicketkeeper-batsman Umar Akmal. Not that the West Indies are in any way significantly different.

They were routed for just 98 in the first match, their lowest-ever total in an ODI in the Caribbean, and were reliant on the Bravo brothers, Darren and skipper Dwayne, to post what proved to be a match-winning total in the second encounter. It all points to more domination by the bowlers of both sides when the series resumes on Friday unless someone on either side can rise above the prevailing mediocrity to produce a truly special batting exhibition.

Key players to look out for :

Pakistan, led by Misbah-ul-Haq, will go into the match knowing that their brittle batting let them down in the second ODI, which the West Indian bowlers took advantage of.

Their death overs bowling is also a concern, as, despite having been able to control the West Indian top order in both the matches in Guyana, their substandard bowling with the old ball towards the penultimate overs proved costly in the second One-Dayer.

This was mainly because of the inexperience amongst the death bowlers, which was amplified due to the absence of experienced paceman Umar Gul, who is out of the tour due to a knee injury.

Performance at the ground by team:

Pakistan:

They have won all four of their ODI matches at Gros Islet, by 40 runs, 22 runs, 8 wickets and seven wickets respectively, giving them a perfect win percentage of 100.

All of these matches were against the same opposition they face today.

West Indies:

They have not fared as well as the men in green have, winning only six out of sixteen ODI matches they have played there, with two matches being abandoned.

They have a win percentage of 42.9 at the ground.

Cutting to the point:

To make it simple, both teams are very talented, both are highly unpredictable and finally, both have to fight as hard as they can and use all their available talent, for defeating a team as explosive as either is by no means an easy task.

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