Chase and company help Windies secure 5-wicket win over spirited PNG

Jun 03, 2024 Sports

Alzarri Joseph celebrates a wicket (ICC via Getty Images)

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024…

Kaieteur Sports – All-rounder Roston Chase carried the Windies home by 5-wickets yesterday at Providence, when ICC Men’s T20 World Cup action bowled off in Guyana against Papua New Guinea (PNG).

PNG posted 136-8 batting first after 20 overs ended, carried by Sese Bau who stroked 50 off 43 with 6 fours and a maximum, Captain Assadollah Vala 21 and 27 not out from wicket-keeper Kiplin Doriga (3×4).

West Indies bowling clicked in their first game, with veteran seamer Andre Russell (2-19) and speedster Alzzari Jospeh (2-34) leading the charge.

The home team then made light work of the run-chase; thanks, impart to some power-hitting from opener Brandon King (34), Nicholas Pooran (27), Chase who ended with 42 off 27 not out with four fours and 2 sixes, help the Caribbean side to 137-5 in 19 overs.

Vala had a great game bagging 2-28 as three of his men chipped in with a wicket each.

Roston Chase scored 42 off 27 balls (ICC via Getty Images)

King and Pooran continued their devastating form with the bat, hammering the PNG bowlers inside the first 5 overs as the West Indies’ team 50 came in quick time, so too did the 50-partnership between the pair which came off 38 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes; after losing opener Johnson Charles for 0.

With the deficit under 100-runs and almost their entire batting order still intact, the partnership was broken by Kariko and the Windies lost their second wicket in the dangerous Pooran; while King skied a deliver from the PNG skipper which resulted in good outfield catch to account for his dismissal.

New men Roston Chase and Captain Rovman Powell (15) sought to further wipe the runs off the board with the game entering its final half of the session, before the latter was caught behind, leaving the former champs facing a tricky chase with the last 4 overs remaining.

Chase and Russell (15*) then got the job done in the penultimate over to see their side off to a great start this tournament.

Batting first under some decent weather, PNG were 39-3 after 7 overs thanks to some all-round showmanship by the home team. The opening pair of Vala, who was snagged by Jospeh, just when he seemed to be on an aggressive path with 2 fours and a six already under his belt and Tony Ura (2), who was the first to go at the hands of hometown hero, Romario Shepherd (1-23); provided PNG with a mixed start.

The departure of number 3 batsman Lega Saiga (01), who was bowled by left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein (1-9) a few overs after the first power-play ended, kept the Windies on top despite the visitors reaching 57-4 at the halfway mark of 10 overs.

Some stability from Bau, who had crept into the 20’s with a strike rate of little over 100 in no time, seemed to be their last hope as another left-arm spinner, Gudakesh Motie (1-24) bagged the wicket of Hiri Hiri (3), who fell to a catch in slip after attempting a reverse-sweep shot.

Bau then reached his well-earned half-century off 42 deliveries, as the death stages of PNG’s batting innings approached but had his stumps abused by a slower delivery as Joseph completed his fruitful spell.

PNG nevertheless took their total past the 100-run mark with a few streaky shots, some of which reached the ropes as Doriga tried his hand at a cameo and remained unbeaten as the innings ended.

Sese Bau scored 50 off 43 balls (ICC via Getty Images)

Papua New Guinea, Roston Chase, T20 World Cup 2024, Windies

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