West Indies beat UAE by 78 runs to seal ODI series win
SUMMARY: West Indies 306 all out from 49.5 overs (Brandon King 64, Johnson Charles 63, Odean Smith 37, Keacy Carty 32, Kavem Hodge 26, Shai Hope 23, Shamarh Brooks 20; Zahoor Khan 3-44, Aayan Afzal Khan 2-45, Ali Naseer 2-69, Sanchit Sharma 2-69) vs United Arab Emirates 228-7 from 50 overs (Ali Naseer 57, Basil Hameed 49; Kave Hodge 2-46, Roston Chase 2-49)
New West Indies Head Coach Daren Sammy recorded a win in his first series in charge, as the Caribbean side defeated the United Arab Emirates by 78 runs to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match ODI series in Sharjah on Tuesday.
It was also Shai Hope’s first series win as ODI skipper.
Chasing 307 to level the series, UAE were 95-5 in the 24th over before recovering to bat out the full 50 overs, ending on 228-7.
That recovery was led by Ali Naseer, who scored 57, and Basil Hameed (49), the pair adding 80 for the sixth wicket. Bowling for West Indies, Kavem Hodge took 2-46 and Roston Chase 2-49.
Earlier, West Indies wasted a solid platform to put up a much larger total than they eventually got when openers Brandon King and Johnson Charles raced to a 129-run opening stand in just 17 overs.
From 151-1 in the 22nd over, West Indies were aiming for much more than 300, but wickets fell regularly as the UAE pulled things back in the second half of the innings.
King made 64 to follow up his century in the first game, Charles scored 63 and Odean Smith cracked 37 off 24 at the backend.
Bowling for the UAE, Zahoor Khan took 3-44.
What they said (as reported by ESPNcricinfo)
Shai Hope, WI captain: As we say, a win is a win. Happy with the start we got – happy to see King what he does best. There wasn’t much swing, but Akeem Jordan got enough to dismiss the opener. The game was always about getting wickets and putting pressure on the opposition. Unfortunately, didn’t get wickets to see the game out earlier. But still happy with the win.
Vriitya Aravind, UAE vice-captain: Hopefully I get a big one next game and contribute to the team’s success. The way Ali Naseer is batting is quite unbelievable and Basil played well. Scoring two fifties against a quality team, all credit to him. Important tournament coming up – Qualifiers.
Charles, Player-of-the-Match: Getting Man-of-the-Match is always special. I will leave that [a longer run in the team] to the selectors and my job is just to score runs. They will do their job. The pitch is a lot better than the last time we played and it came on early on. There was also something for the bowlers once they went straight on good lengths.
The third and final game will take place on Friday from 08:30h. The two sides are preparing to compete in the upcoming 50-over World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe.
