Oshane Thomas starred with the ball while Chris Gayle top-scored with a quick fifty as the West Indies cruised to a comfortable seven-wicket win in their World Cup 2019 opener against Pakistan
Oshane Thomas starred with the ball while Chris Gayle top-scored with a quick fifty as West Indies demolished Pakistan by seven wickets at Trent Bridge on Friday.
Thomas, who was the pick of the bowlers picked up 4/27 while skipper Jason Holder (3/42) and Andre Russell (2/4) backed him up with commendable efforts. Sent into bat Pakistan were bowled out for a paltry 105 in just 21.4 overs. Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam were the joint top-scorers with 22 each.
In reply, all it took West Indies was just 13.4 overs to reach their target and hand Pakistan their 11th ODI defeat in a row – their longest losing streak in this format.
Toss: West Indies won the toss and sent Pakistan in to bat first.
First innings: Sheldon Cottrell struck early removing Imam ul Haq (2) in the third over while Russell added further misery by dismissing Zaman in the sixth over. 22-year-old Thomas then joined the party by getting rid of Babar Azam. Three more wickets fell in the space of nine balls as Pakistan suffered a dramatic collapse. Some lusty blows towards the end by Wahab Riaz took Pakistan over the 100-mark but the target remained too small for the Caribbean side.