Crushing West Indies victory a statement

GROS ISLET, St Lucia (CMC):

NICHOLAS POORAN perished agonisingly short of a maiden Twenty20 International hundred as West Indies made a bold statement ahead of the Super Eights today, with a dominant 104-run victory over the previously unbeaten Afghanistan in the final group stage game of the T20 World Cup late on Monday.

The enterprising left-hander belted a career-best 98 from 53 deliveries which was the cornerstone of the Caribbean side’s 218 for five off their 20 overs – their highest ever total at a T20 World Cup and the highest of the current showpiece.

Man-of-the-Match Pooran lashed half-dozen fours and eight sixes and looked a sure bet for triple figures before he was run out off the fourth delivery of the final over, Azmatullah Omarzai’s throw from the deep making a direct hit at the striker’s end as the batsman hurried for a second.

Opener Johnson Charles also sparkled with 43 off 27 deliveries in front of his home fans at the Daren Sammy Cricket Stadium while captain Rovman Powell (26) and Shai Hope (25) produced important cameos.

Left-arm pacer Obed McCoy, in his first match of the tournament, then claimed three for 14 from three overs while left-arm spinners Akeal Hosein (2-21) and Gudakesh Motie (2-28) grabbed a brace of wickets each to send Afghanistan crashing to 114 all out in the 17th over.

Ibrahim Zadran (38) and Omarzai (23) were the only ones to pass 20 in a miserable batting effort which saw Afghanistan never really recover from losing the tournament’s leading run-scorer Rahmanullah Gurbaz to the third ball of the chase without a run on the board.

WINNING STREAK

The win was West Indies’ fourth on the trot in Group C, keeping them on a winning streak ahead of their opening Super Eight fixture against England today.

“It feels very good,” Powell said afterwards.

“It goes to show all the hard work that the boys have put in over the last 12 months is paying off. It’s important for us to keep on playing good cricket and while we’re doing that, we just keep on improving.”

He added: “I think the guys were excited to come here. We always knew that here is going to be one of the better batting wickets in the competition.

“After experiencing Guyana and after experiencing Trinidad the guys were excited – especially the batters – to get some runs under their belt. Credit has to be given, they took their opportunities tonight.”