West Indies thump USA in clash of hosts in T20 World Cup
Shai Hope hit an aggressive 82 not out off 39 to power the West Indies to an easy nine-wicket victory over the USA in their second Super Eight match in Bridgetown in the ongoing T20 World Cup.
Shai Hope struck a magnificent unbeaten 82 from 39 balls as the West Indies crushed the USA Friday, winning their Twenty20 World Cup Super Eights encounter by nine wickets and with 9.1 overs to spare.
The Caribbean side bowled out the USA for 128 in the clash of the tournament co-hosts at Kensington Oval and then rattled off the target in 10.5 overs with local boy Hope smashing eight sixes as the West Indies finished on 130/1.
The win keeps the West Indies in the hunt for a place in the semi-finals and leaves the USA, with defeats in both their Super Eights games so far, on the brink of elimination.
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Spinner Roston Chase did the main damage with the ball for the West Indies with 3/19 in his four overs while Andre Russell also chipped in with three wickets.
But, aware of the need for a strong run-rate in the qualification scenarios, Hope went on the attack from the outset, reaching his half century in just 26 balls.
The West Indies, beaten by England in their opening Super Eights game, now have destiny in own hands - if they beat South Africa in the final Group 2 game Sunday they will make it to the last four.
The West Indies have a better net run rate than South Africa meaning they would advance with a win over the Proteas regardless of the outcome of England's final game against the USA.
Hope's aggressive strokeplay helped the home side reach 58/0 in the six over powerplay with the opener, who was not in the side in the early group stage games, scoring 42 of them.
It was merciless hitting from Hope who struck 12 boundaries and was helped at the end by Nicholas Pooran who joined in the fun with 27 off 12 balls including three sixes.
Hope sealed victory with his final six, smashing Saurabh Netravalkar over long off to the delight of the home crowd.
There were some brutal bowling figure from the Americans with Miland Kumar going for 22 off his sole over which saw him hit for three sixes.
Barbadian Chase, whose figure was a career-best in T20 International games, was delighted with the emphatic performance.
"To do it at home is a great feeling, with my parents and my friends watching. It's something we talked about in the team meeting that if we don't get too many wickets in the powerplay, it's on the spinners to come back and pull the game back and that's what we did," he said.
"It's our destiny and goal to win the T20 World Cup so anyone we play we have to beat from here to go win it," he said.
South Africa are top of the group with the maximum four points from their opening two games while England are level with the West Indies on two points but with a worse run-rate than the Caribbean side.
