ICC World Cup 2019 Match No 42 Played at Leeds, Headingly
West Indies Vs Afghanistan
Brief Scorecard:
West Indies 311/6 ( SD Hope 77, E Lewis 58, N Pooran 58, JO Holder 45, SO Hetmeyer 39, DawlatZadran 2/73) beat Afghanistan 288 all out ( IkramAlkil 86, Rahmat Shah 62, Asghar Afghan 40, NazibullahZadran 31, SayedShirzad 28 , KAJ Roach 3/37 ) by 23 Runs
Player of the Match: Shai Hope
Champions of the way past West Indies cruised past bottom of the table Afghanistan in their high scoring well contested last match of WC 2019 at Leeds Headingly. The best of both the teams ended with West Indies wining by 23 runs. Batting first West Indies with performance from some of their men of the future Hope (77), Hetmyer (39) and Pooran (58) and Lewis (58) posted impressive 311/6.
Afghanistan finally batting like a team worthy of playing at this level scored 288 all out. Fighting bravely Afghans went down by 23 runs. It was a match of no consequences other than teams playing for pride. Both the team came to WC with the promise of performing much better. They had to qualify for this World cup playing with ICC associate members. Zimbabwe and Ireland could not make the number. Much was expected as several West Indians were of star attraction in T20 franchise world wide. Rashid, Nabi and Mujeeb of Afghanistan also rock & roll in T20 franchise. But they delivered very little.
Afghanistan lost all their matches. With a bit of maturity they should have won against India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. West India blasted Pakistan and apart from the last win went fought tooth and nail with few other teams. Finishing 9th and 10th we are sure West Indies and Afghanistan would do soul searching. The squad selection, team chemistry and match planning left behind few questions.
One of the other matter of interest yesterday was one of the maestro of limited over cricket, self styled “UNIVERSE BOSS” Christopher Henry Gayle quietly signed off from World Cup cricket. The carefree dare devil approach of the sweet clean striker of the ball will never be seen again. He truly entertained cricket world with his brilliant aggressive batting. In his last appearance he scored only 7 and bowling his spinners took 1/28.
West Indies possibly missed one Sunil Narine. Their quality pace attack rattled most of the top orders. Cottrell took the highest numbers of wicket in the first power play. Roach did well. But much was expected from Thomas and Gabriel. If West Indies had Narine type spinner West Indies could keep the early momentum going. Another issue was Gayle failing to deliver his killer much as often as required and Barvo not shinning. Russel limping out of this world cup was another blow. West Indies could be better served with Pollard in the team. Still West Indies has several positives. Players like Pooran, Hope, Hetmyer, Braithwaite matured. This team would grow from strength to strength from here. In their next assignment at hope against strong India they would definitely perform much better.
This was the second World Cup for rookie Afghanistan. Having proved a good team in bilateral contest over the past few years they were expected to shock few teams in the tournament. They possess two very high quality spinners in Rashid Khan and Mujeeb. They also have poor mans Sobers in Mohammad Nabi. It is not that they did not perform. But their batting was not strong enough. The team management was poor. Changing the captain few days ahead of the tournament was not perfect. There was news of dressing room controversy. Yet they created contest against India and should have won their match against Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
On the day with nothing at stake West Indian batting in their sweet free striking mode with Lewis (58), Hope(77), Hetmyer (39), Pooran (58), Holder (45) all contributing. After early loss of Gayle, young hope had two solid partnerships with Lewis (88 for the 2nd wicket) and (65 for the 3rd wicket). West Indies could reach near 400 if any of the above could produce a big hundred. Still 311/6 was an impressive total. We must bear in mind that all guns blazing West Indies scored 426 in a warm up match against very strong New Zealand attack.
With run cushion West Indies bowlers bowled in relaxed mood. But Afghans did not throw the towel. Before their home bound flight they presented a fighting display as a farewell gift to their West Indies-born coach Phil Simmons. Afghanistan scored 288 all out with contributions from young Ikram Ali Khil (86), Ramat Shah (62), Asghar Afghan (40), Nazibullah Zadran (31) and Sayed Shirzad (28). West Indies won by 23 runs.
Two bottom teams signed off with bright tunes. When they look back in retrospect they will have lot to take pride. They had their moments of joy. But perhaps Afghanistan would need seriously thinking about tea management. Should take a leaf out of Bangladesh
BDST: 1012 HRS, JULY 5, 2019
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