West Indies pacers seal series win
A clinical bowling performance from West Indies helped the side complete a series-clinching 29-run win against Afghanistan by DLS Method in the rain-affected second fixture of the three-match Twenty20 International series at Warner Park in St Kitts on Saturday.
Set a revised target of 123 after the home side was limited to 112 for 3 in a match reduced to 15-overs-per-side, Afghanistan was bundled out for 93 off 13.3 overs with Kesrick Williams, the fast bowler, leading the way with figures of 3 for 11 to take the Player of the Match award.
This loss, coming a day after being bowled out for 110 on the way to a six-wicket defeat in the first game, would have stung the passionate Afghanistan team. It now faces the prospect of being whitewashed in the T20I series going into the final match at the same venue on Monday.
Karim Janat top-scored with 20 as the wickets tumbled around him. As in the first match, much of Afghanistan’s misery was due to poor shot selection.
At one stage it was 55 for 8 before Janat and the last two in the batting line-up delayed the inevitable, the match concluding when Carlos Brathwaite, the West Indies captain, took the catch that ended Janat’s resistance to give Williams his best figures in T20Is.
Brathwaite chipped in with two wickets and was pleased to complete a second consecutive win in challenging circumstances, after the West Indies innings was interrupted after 11 overs by heavy, sustained showers which held up play for almost two hours.
West Indies was 79 for 2 off 11 overs when rain came pouring down, raising fears of the match being abandoned. However, it eventually relented and the side managed to get another 33 runs off the remaining four overs upon resumption.
After Brathwaite chose to bat first, Chadwick Walton and Evin Lewis, the openers, gave their team a flying start with a succession of boundaries. Both got into the twenties before perishing. Walton was caught at long-on off Mohammad Nabi while Lewis pulled a short ball from Janat to be taken at deep midwicket.
Marlon Samuels and Lendl Simmons were looking set when heavy showers swept forced them off the ground and when the innings resumed, Samuels departed to Gulbadin Naib in search of quick runs.
West Indies retained an unchanged XI from the first match while Afghanistan made two changes, but to no avail. Noor Ali Zadran replaced Usman Ghani at the top of the batting order while Dawlat Zadran came into the XI at the expense of Shapoor Zadran.
