West Indies beat Zimbabwe for Super Eight spot
Kingston: West Indies became the second side to book a place in the Super Eight quarterfinals of the World Cup after beating Zimbabwe by six wickets in their Group D match here Monday.
Chasing 203 runs from their allocation of 50 overs, West Indies struck gold with 13 balls to spare when captain Brian Lara lofted Elton Chigumbura over wide long-on for a six.
The victory gave West Indies their second straight win in the competition, following their 54-run triumph over Pakistan in the World Cup opener last Tuesday at the same venue.
The win puts West Indies in the lead of Group D with four points, one more than giant-killers Ireland, and three ahead of Zimbabwe, leaving Pakistan at the bottom of the table with no points.
West Indies and Ireland complete the group phase on Friday, two days after the Pakistanis and Zimbabweans contest their final match on Wednesday.
Lara, unbeaten on 44, and Dwayne Bravo, not out on 37, shared 75, unbroken, for the fifth wicket to take West Indies over the line.
The World Cup hosts had wobbled to 129 for four, after openers Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul had put on 73.
Both Chanderpaul and Gayle were caught at slip off Chigumbura Anthony Ireland held a return catch to remove Ramnaresh Sarwan for 12 in the 25th over, and Tawanda Mupariwa had Marlon Samuels caught at backward point for 28 in the 33rd over to send a few jitters through the West Indies' dressing room, but Lara and Bravo made it safe.
Earlier, Zimbabwe, sent in to bat on a hard, true Sabina Park pitch under partly cloudy skies, were indebted to half-centuries from Sean Williams and Brendon Taylor, as well as a late cameo from Chugumbura for getting them to a respectable total.
Left-hander Williams hit an undefeated top score of 70 from 88 balls and Taylor gathered 50 from 121 balls in a vital stand of 83 for the fifth wicket to lead a Zimbabwe recovery.
When Taylor backed up too far and was run out by Bravo's throw from point to bowler Samuels in the 41st over, Chigumbura arrived and gave the Zimbabweans a late boost.
He collected five fours in the closing overs to gather 30 not out from 29 balls and share an unbroken stand of 60 with Williams.
West Indies had early success, when new ball bowlers Jerome Taylor and Daren Powell bowled both Zimbabweans openers Friday Kasteni and Vusimuzi Sibanda inside the first three overs.
Taylor added the wicket of Justice Chibhabha also bowled for 12 in the 10th over before Dwayne Smith had Stuart Matsikenyeri caught at mid-on for 16.
India post incredible 413/5 against Bermuda; create WC record
Port of Spain, Trinidad: Bermuda was left thinking what hit them. Needing a big victory under their belt after Saturday's upset loss to Bangladesh, India plundered Bermuda to post 413 for five in their Group B match at Trinidad on Monday. This the highest total ever in World Cup history and betters the 398 that Sri Lanka hit against Kenya at Kandy in 1996. Barring opener Robin Uthappa, all the Indian batsmen tore into the Bermuda bowling. Virender Sehwag played an imperious knock to bring up a one-day hundred after a gap of almost three years. Sourav Ganguly played patiently before launching himself. Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh also made full use of the opportunity - bringing up smashing fifties. Yuvraj also hit seven sixes, one short of Ricky Ponting's record of eight sixes in a World Cup innings. Uthappa fails again Put in to bat by Bermuda skipper Irvine Romaine, India lost the wicket of Uthappa for just three. The opener poked nervously at a Malachi Jones delivery and the heavyweight Dwayne Leverock leapt to his right at first slip to hold on to the catch.
0 Comments:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
