King century, Shepherd three-for hand West Indies first Super Six win

HARARE (Agencies): A disciplined performance from the bowlers backed up by a century from Brandon King saw West Indies complete a clinical seven-wicket win over Oman in Harare. Kyle Mayers and Romario Shepherd were the pick of the bowlers before the spinners bogged Oman down, never letting them move out of third gear. Chasing a below-par 222, the West Indies had little trouble controlling the pacing of the game as King and Shai Hope – who scored another half-century – led their side to their first win in the Super Six stages of the World Cup Qualifier, and did so with more than ten overs to spare.
With both teams already eliminated, this game lacked the intensity of many of the others, and that showed in front of a largely empty Harare crowd. Oman were punctured early by Shepherd and Mayers as Jatinder Singh and captain Aqib Ilyas fell cheaply. But a streak of self-destruction ran through an Oman innings which saw three run-outs. Kashyap Prajapati was the first to go in that fashion as Roston Chase pounced on poor judgment.
Akeal Hosein, Roston Chase and Kevin Sinclair then took charge of the middle overs, running through them quickly in the absence of Oman’s intent as the run rate began to wane. Occasional outbursts of aggression weren’t adequately followed up by efficient rotation of strike as the litany of dot balls through the middle overs would suggest. When three quick wickets fell through the middle overs, Oman were in danger of folding early, but dogged resistance from Shoaib Khan and Suraj Kumar prevented that fate befalling them.
An 85-run stand ensured they crossed 200 but the dreaded run-out struck soon after. Shoaib called for a single from the non-striker’s end, which Suraj wasn’t interested in, and West Indies were only too happy to send Shoaib on his way. The innings wrapped up tamely after that as Oman stumbled to 221.
There was no pressure because of the tournament situation, and no scoreboard pressure either. Oman did strike an early blow when a lovely indipper from Kaleemullah uprooted two of Johnson Charles’ stumps, but West Indies eased their way through the rest of the first powerplay. Keacy Carty was run out but King had found his groove by then, and found runs increasingly easy to come by. As he joined up with the side’s best batter, Hope, Oman had few answers as they eased their way through the target.
There’s little joy to be had for the West Indies in this tournament, but King managed to get to his second hundred as the finish line neared in sight. He wouldn’t finish things off, though, as Bilal Khan had him nick off two balls later, but by now, Hope had also got to his half-century, and West Indies were speeding through to the finish. An unbeaten 19-ball 24 from Nicholas Pooran got West Indies a win that will matter very little, but a job that needed to be done was completed with aplomb.