Sports Desk
GUYANA: Roston Chase played a blistering 42-run knock under pressure and led West Indies to a hard-fought five-wicket victory over Papa New Guinea (PNG) in the second match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 here on Sunday.
Chasing a modest total of 137, West Indies had to make hard yards to achieve the total. The hosts lost five wickets in the process but eventually chased down with an over to spare.
The hosts had a shaky start to the pursuit as they lost Johnson Charles (0) early with just eight runs on the board.
Following the early hiccup, wicketkeeper batter Nicholas Pooran joined Brandon King and they part-nered to launch recovery.
King and Pooran added 53 runs for the second wicket before both perished in quick succession, bring-ing West Indies down to 63/3 in 9.5 overs. Pooran scored a run-a-ball 27 while King made a 29-ball 34.
Following the back-to-back dismissals, the hosts, despite batting cautiously in the middle overs, lost two more wickets and subsequently slipped to 97/5 in 16 overs.
West Indies then needed 40 runs off the last four overs and Andre Russell came out to join Roston Chase, who had batted sensibly amid the middle-order collapse.
The duo then turned the tide in West Indies’ favour by clean hitting, the highlight of which was the 18th over which yielded 18 runs.
Chase and Russell’s brilliant partnership led West Indies to a tough victory when Russell dug out a yorker towards long on for a single.
Roston Chase top-scored for West Indies with an unbeaten 42 off 27 deliveries, peppered with four fours and two sixes while Russell played a helping hand with 15 not out.
Asad Vala bagged two wickets for PNG while John Kariko, Chad Soper and Alei Nao struck out a batter apiece.
Put into bat first, PNG recovered from a disastrous start, courtesy of a fighting half-century from Sese Bau.
PNG were two down for just seven runs inside three overs as their opener Tony Ura (2) and Lega Siaka (1) perished cheaply.
Following the slump, Bau joined skipper Asad Vala at the crease and the duo batted sensibly in a bid to anchor the innings.
They added 27 runs for the third wicket before Vala perished on the final delivery of the powerplay after scoring 21 off 22 deliveries. He hit two fours and a six.
Bau then put together a brief one-sided partnership with Hiri Hiri (2) before receiving subtle support at the other end in the form of Charles Amini.
Bau and Amini recorded PNG’s most successful partnership which yielded 44 runs in 37 deliveries.
The fifth-wicket stand lasted with Amini’s dismissal on the final delivery of the 15th over, who scored 12 off 14.
Sese Bau, on the other hand, perished an over later, just after amassing his gritty half-century. He re-mained the top-scorer for PNG against West Indies with a 43-ball 50 which featured six fours and a six.
Following Bau’s dismissal, wicketkeeper batter Kiplin Doriga took the reigns of PNG’s batting charge and added valuable runs at the backend with his unbeaten cameo.
Doriga scored 27 not out off 18 deliveries with the help of three boundaries.
Andre Russell and Alzarri Joseph led the bowling attack for the West Indies with two wickets each while Akeal Hosein, Romario Shepherd and Gudakesh Motie chipped in a wicket apiece.
