Cricket: West Indies clinches series/Then lose 1 day Intl
By Azad Ali From Caribbean Life
The West Indies brushed aside minnows Afghanistan by seven wickets in the final of the Twenty20 Internationals to clinch the three-match series (3-0) in St. Kitts on Monday night, June 5.
In the first match West Indies won by six wickets as Afghanistan could only muster 110 runs. The regional side lost four wickets in its runs chase with four overs to spare. Marlon Samuels was the top scorer with 35 runs.
In the contest reduced to 15 overs because of rain in the second match, West Indies posted a score of 112 for 3 wickets but Afghanistan could only manage 93 off 13.3 overs.
West Indies won by 29 runs under the Duckworth / Lewis method. Man-of-the Match was Kesrick Williams who took three wickets for 11 runs.
In the final match Afghanistan improved their batting and made 146 after opting to bat first. Chasing 147 for victory at Warner Park, Windies lost four wickets, but they reached their target with four balls to spare.
Marlon Samuels finished unbeaten with 89 from 66 balls to earn the Man-of-the Match and Man-of-the-Series honors.
Williams was again among the wickets taking three wickets again. He finished the series with eight wickets — three in the first match, two in the second and three in the final game.
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Afghanistan defeats West Indies
By Azad Ali From Caribbean Life
West Indies suffered an embarrassing and humiliating 63-run defeat to minnows Afghanistan, in the opening day / night One-Day International of the three-match series at the Darren Sammy National Stadium in St. Lucia on Friday, June 9.
Asked to chase what should have been a straightforward 213 for victory, the regional side were mesmerized by 18-year-old leg-spinner Rashid Khan, whose career-best seven-wicket haul sent them crashing to 149 all out off 44.4 overs.
At one stage Khan took four wickets for one run as the Windies were struggling to recover from the disastrous start.
Middle-order batsman Shai Hope’s 35 was the best offering for the Windies with tail-ender Alzarri Joseph, batting at number nine, making 27 and opener Evin Lewis 21.
They were only three to pass 20 as their counterparts failed to come to grip with the visitors’ varied spin attack.
Khan finished with 7 for 18 — the fourth-best bowling performance in one-day history- to hand the West Indies their 12th loss in their last 13 One-Day Internationals inside the last 18 months.
For Afghanistan, the victory marked their first over a major Test playing nation and was their seventh win in their last 11 outings.
Captain Jason Holder described the stunning defeat as “poor” performance.
“We have to do better as international cricketers. I think Afghanistan played better cricket and they deserved to win,” he told reporters.
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