Staff Writer – Archi
West Indies Cricket news. Twice world champions West Indies temporarily revived memories of their glory days when their opening bowlers swept aside the Pakistan top order to set up a 150-run victory in the ICC cricket World Cup Pool B match in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Saturday.
Jerome Taylor and captain Jason Holder took four wickets between them with only one run on the board after Pakistan had been set 311 to win at Hagley Oval.
Taylor struck with his second ball of the innings when Nasir Jamshed mishit a hook to Andre Russell at mid-wicket and his sixth which Younus Khan edged to wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin.
Haris Sohail became the third batsman to fall for a duck when he scooped the final ball of Taylor’s second over to substitute Jonathan Carter at point.
Holder dismissed Ahmed Shehzad for one with the first ball of his second over, caught by Lendl Simmons in the gully.
Dropped catches by Darren Sammy and Chris Gayle helped Pakistan mount some sort of recovery through Sohaib Maqsood (50) and Umar Akmal (59) before the remainder of the batting was swept aside.
Andre Russell. Photo courtesy sports.ndtv.com
Pakistan were eventually dismissed for 160 off 39 overs.
The 1992 world champions had restricted West Indies to 195 for four at the 40 over-mark after Gayle’s indifferent form continued when he was caught for four and Darren Bravo was forced to retire hurt on 49 after he injured his left hamstring.
Bravo took no further part in the match and was taken to hospital for an MRI scan.
Wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin accelerated the scoring rate with 51 including seven boundaries and Simmons carried on where he had left off by lofting the first two sixes of the innings.
Russell ensured West Indies would set a challenging total by smiting three sixes in an over to finish unbeaten on 42 while Simmons was run out off the last ball of the innings for 50.
The extreme pressure that West Indies were feeling after a shock loss to Ireland thus has suddenly eased. The team is breathing easy once again and it had a lot to do with an all round effort on Saturday.
“Everyone is laughing and they are all happy. The last game didn’t go well for us, and we just turned up today and wanted to show the world that we are not just a pushover. We are always a good team and we can fight,” Man of the Match Andre Russell said.
“It was a wonderful performance,” said skipper Jason Holder at the presentation ceremony.
