Centuries from captain Shai Hope and Nicholas Pooran and brilliant spells from Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph and Akil Hossein helped West Indies beat Nepal by 101 runs in their ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023 match in Harare on Thursday. With this win, West Indies are on top of the Group A table with two wins from two matches. On the other hand, Nepal is in fourth place with one win and two defeats i.e. a total of two points. West Indies were at the top of their game in the batting and bowling department.
West Indies had poor fielding but still managed to get two Nepal wickets in the first powerplay. Kushal Bhurtel was clean bowled by Alzarri Joseph for five runs, while Bhim Sarki was caught by Jason Holder after scoring only two runs. Nepal’s chances further dwindled after the dismissal of Asif Sheikh (28) in the 12th over. At that point Nepal slipped to 48/3.
Due to the rain in Trent Bridge, tea is prepared early.
Ellyse Perry is still looking great at age 82 #Ashes pic.twitter.com/CpX8L1pLs7– Australian Women’s Cricket Team _ (@AusWomenCricket) 22 June 2023
In the next few overs, the sub-continental team looked to save wickets to rebuild their innings. But this effort suffered a setback when Holder dismissed captain Rohit Paudel for 30 runs. Akil Hossain also joined in the fun when he got the wicket of Kushal Malla with a superb catch in the deep by substitute player Casey Carter.
In the second half, Nepal went into defensive mode soon after Dipendra Airi (23) fell to Hossein in the 28th over. Arif Sheikh (63) and Gulsan Jha (42) held the wicket but added just 68 runs in 94 balls. In the final powerplay, West Indies managed to get past Nepal’s lower order. Jason Holder (3/34), Alzarri Joseph (2/44), Akil Hossein (2/49), and Keemo Paul (2/63) were the leading wicket-takers. Nepal’s team got piled on 238 runs in 49.4 overs.
Earlier, a mammoth 216-run fourth-wicket partnership between Shai Hope and Nicholas Pooran helped West Indies overcome early difficulties and reach the 300-plus mark.
Shai Hope _ Nicholas Pooran
Centuries by West Indies batsmen#cwc23 , , #WIvNEP, https://t.co/ClFVuYxTAS pic.twitter.com/g9rgcKAPRG– ICC Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) 22 June 2023
The West Indies started the innings badly and lost the wickets of Kyle Mayers (1) and Johnson Charles (0) in the first five overs. Nepal’s bowlers’ probing of the new ball spell was supported by brisk work in the field as the West Indies batsmen struggled to score runs in the early overs. At the end of the first powerplay, the batting team’s score was 30/2.
Gradually, Brandon King and Shai Hope grew in confidence and improved their scoring rate. But just as he started to move forward, King fell to Sandeep Lamichhane for 32 in the 15th over. It was the leg-spinner’s first wicket of the tournament. Nepal’s fourth wicket was about to fall when Nicholas Pooran edged past the wicket off Lalit Rajbanshi, but the keeper failed to stop him.
The collapse proved costly as Hope and Pooran launched a series of brilliant shots to bring West Indies back in the game.
Nepal had to bear the brunt of even small mistakes by the set batsmen and started scoring runs fast. He added almost 100 runs between overs 26-37. Both the batsmen completed their century in the 40th over. This was Hope’s 15th ODI century, while it was Puran’s second ODI century.
Nepal finally got the breakthrough when Dipendra Airey took a brilliant catch on his own ball to end Pooran’s innings on 115 off 94 balls. It included 10 fours and four sixes. Their partnership of 216 runs was the second best partnership for the fourth wicket for the West Indies in ODIs.
Pooran’s fall brought some respite to the bowling side, as West Indies continued to wreak havoc on the pitch. Hope’s brilliant century (132 off 129 balls with 10 fours and three sixes) came to an end in the last over.
Netherlands beat USA
Half-centuries from captain Scott Edwards and Teja Ndamanuru helped the Netherlands register a five-wicket win over the United States in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 Qualifier in Harare on Thursday.
Netherlands off the mark in points table with clinical win#cwc23 , , #NEDvUSA, https://t.co/32UZPfwCAY pic.twitter.com/6viqv0PzoT
– ICC Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) 22 June 2023
With this win, the Netherlands are now third in the Group A points table with one win and one loss from two matches, earning them two points. At the same time, America is at the bottom after losing all its three matches.
Except for a brief game, when the United States bowlers took three quick middle-order wickets, the American team was never in contention against the Dutch.