West Indies' bowler Andre Russell, left, celebrates with Darren Bravo after taking the wicket of Pakistan's Haris Sohail during the Cricket World Cup match at Trent Bridge cricket ground in Nottingham, England, Friday, May 31, 2019.
After Thomas & Co. skittle out the latter for a paltry 105, Gayle delights with a blistering half-century
West Indies steamrollered Pakistan to seal a seven-wicket victory in its World Cup opener at Trent Bridge on Friday after an Oshane Thomas-led pace attack swept the latter away for a dismal 105.
Opener Chris Gayle, set to retire at the end of the tournament, led the Windies reply with a blistering 50 off 34 balls as the two-times champion chased down the total with ease, reaching 108 for three off just 13.4 overs.
Having elected to field, West Indies made full use of overcast conditions as Thomas took four wickets for 27 runs, while captain Jason Holder (three for 42) and Andre Russell (two for 4) completed the demolition job.
Gamble pays off
“It’s good to have a young quick like Oshane, we know he can be expensive at times but he’s a genuine wicket-taker,” Holder said at the post-match presentation. “That’s the gamble we need to take in one-dayers, with big scores going around.”
Pakistan’s batting unit has repeatedly struggled against short deliveries and West Indies’ plan to pepper it with bouncers soon paid off.
Opener Imam-ul-Haq was cramped for room and caught behind down the leg side off fast bowler Sheldon Cottrel before Russell hit Fakhar Zaman on the helmet and the ball ricocheted onto the stumps.
Wicketkeeper Shai Hope grabbed two more catches when Russell and Holder removed Haris Sohail and captain Sarfaraz Ahmed to leave Pakistan on 75 for five.
Wahab Riaz struck 18 off 11 balls to help Pakistan breach the 100-run mark before he was cleaned up by man-of-the-match Thomas.
“I was confident of running in and doing my job,” Thomas said.
“Andre Russell started it for us, I just followed his footsteps today. Lot of guys tried to mix it up with short balls. We wanted to execute our plans well.”
Pakistan’s 21.4-over innings was its lowest World Cup total since making a paltry 74 against England at Adelaide in 1992, the year Imran Khan’s team went on to lift the trophy.
The in-form Zaman and Babar Azam got off to solid starts but were both dismissed for 22, exposing the middle order against the new ball and Pakistan never recovered.
Blame it on the batting
“If you lose the toss and lose so many wickets early on, it’s tough to come back into the game,” Sarfaraz said.
“It was tricky for half an hour, but this is a good batting track, we didn’t bat well. I think we have to play positive cricket, didn’t do well today but hopefully we’ll bounce back.”
Scoreboard
Pakistan
Imam-ul-Haq c Hope b Cottrell 2
Fakhar Zaman b Russell 22
Babar Azam c Hope b Thomas 22
Sarfaraz Ahmed b Hope c Holder 8
Mohammad Hafeez c Cottrell b Thomas 16
Imad Wasim c Gayle b Holder 1
Shadab Khan lbw b Thomas 0
Mohammad Amir not out 3
Wahab Riaz b Thomas 18
Extras: (2nb,2w) 4
TOTAL: (all out) 105
Overs: 21.4
Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-35, 3-45, 4-62, 5-75, 6-77, 7-78, 8-81, 9-83
Bowling: Sheldon Cottrell 4-0-18-1 (1w), Jason Holder 5-0-42-3, Andre Russell 3-1-4-2, Carlos Brathwaite 4-0-14-0, Oshane Thomas 5.4-0-27-4 (1w, 2nb)
West Indies
Chris Gayle c Khan c Amir 50
Shai Hope c Hafeez b Amir 11
Darren Bravo c Azam b Amir 0
Nicholas Pooran not out 34
Shimron Hetmyer not out 7
Extras: (3lb, 3w) 6
TOTAL: (for 3 wickets) 108
Overs: 13.4
Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-46, 3-77.
Did not bat: Andre Russell, Jason Holder (captain), Carlos Brathwaite, Ashley Nurse, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas.
Bowling: Mohammad Amir 6-0-26-3 (1w), Hasan Ali 4-0-39-0 (1w), Wahab Riaz 3.4-1-40-0 (1w)
Toss: West Indies
Result: West Indies wins by seven wickets.
Umpires: Marais Erasmus, South Africa, and Chris Gaffaney, Australia.
TV umpire: Sundaram Ravi, India. Match referee: Jeff Crowe, New Zealand.
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