Hope: Windies fighting for the fans

WEST Indies kept their chances alive of advancing to the semifinals of the International Cricket Council T20 World Cup with a resounding nine-wicket win over the US in the Super Eight phase at Kensington Oval, Barbados on June 21.

US, batting first, were restricted to 128 all out in 19.5 overs. West Indies raced to the target, closing on 130/1 in 10.5 overs to win the group two contest.

“Very clinical, especially coming off the loss (against England) we had a couple days ago,” West Indies batsman Shai Hope said after the victory. Hope struck an unbeaten 82 to propel West Indies to the win over the US.

“It is great to see that the guys understood the assignment today and we played the cricket that we wanted to play.”

The victory boosted the net run rate of the West Indies. Therefore the regional team will only need a win over South Africa on June 23 to qualify for the semifinals. That match will be played at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua from 8.30 pm.

Just before the World Cup bowled off on June 1, West Indies swept South Africa 3-0 in a T20 series at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica. Both teams were not at full strength with many star players missing.

England will also be eyeing a place in the semifinals with a win over US in another group two match on June 23.

Hope knows West Indies must continue winning.

“It is important that we continue in this vain because we see what is at stake now...a lot more cricket to play and looking forward to it.

The plan was to chase the total as quickly as possible, Hope said. He knew he needed to bat at a healthy strike rate.

“We understood what is at stake. We know in the situation here run rate could play a part, so a 105 strike rate would not have been the (type of) play tonight. Just playing the situation and that is one thing I pride myself on as a batsman, as a cricketer, and we just did the job today.”

It was a full house at Kensington Oval with Hope saying it spurred the team on. “It is an amazing crowd. It is nice to see everyone come out and support us today. Something that we get in the Caribbean when we are doing well, we tend to see a lot more supporters...the crowd was rocking today.”

He asked the fans to continue being the 12th man in the tournament. “Keep rallying, we know that is our motto. We always talk about rallying around the West Indies, that’s exactly what we need to keep doing. The team rallying around each other, the fans need to do the same...we playing a home World Cup, something that I am sure a lot of cricketers over their careers may not get the opportunity to do. We understand the importance of this in particular and we know how much the fans really want us to win. We out there fighting, we are doing it for them.”

The US batsmen would have had the West Indian fans at the ground a bit concerned getting to 51/1 in the seventh over.

Off-spinner Roston Chase, the chief destroyer for West Indies with 3/19 in four overs, helped break the backbone of the US batting by grabbing the fourth, fifth and sixth wicket for West Indies. After Chase’s three wickets, US were 88/6 in the 14th over. One of Chase’s wickets was the dismissal of US captain Aaron Jones for 11. West Indies would have been glad to see the back of Jones as he cracked 94 not out off only 40 balls in the opening match of the tournament against Canada.

Fast bowlers Andre Russell and Alzarri Joseph grabbed 3/31 and 2/31 respectively to help limit the Americans.

Opener Andries Gous was the top scorer for US with 29 off 16 balls.

In response, West Indies showed intent from ball one knowing net run rate may be an important factor in determining who eventually qualifies from group two of the Super Eight.

Hope, replacing the injured Brandon King, stole the spotlight with 82 not out off 39 deliveries (four fours and eight sixes) to steer West Indies to a crushing win.

Nicholas Pooran ended unbeaten on 27 off 12 balls. The only blemish in the West Indies innings was the fall of Johnson Charles for 15 off 14 deliveries.

Summarised Scores:

US 128 (19.5 overs) (Andries Gous 29; Roston Chase 3/19, Andre Russell 3/31, Alzarri Joseph 2/31) vs WEST INDIES 130/1 (10.5 overs) (Shai Hope 82 not out, Nicholas Pooran 27 not out). West Indies won by nine wickets.