FATULLAH, Bangladesh, CMC – West Indies Under-19 team manager, Dwain Gill, said the “Mankad” controversy had done little to dent the confidence or preparation of his side for yesterday’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup quarter-final clash against Pakistan Under-19s.
The Caribbean side entered the contest under a cloud of controversy following Keemo Paul’s now hotly-debated action in their last group game against Zimbabwe but rose above the furore to produce a clinical performance and come away with a convincing five-wicket victory and reach the semi-finals.
“I don’t think that was a factor. I think what we tried to do was put that behind us,” Gill told CMC Sports.
“We are not experts in the [laws of cricket] so we let the authorities deal with that so I think the guys were just focusing on Pakistan. In our meetings we looked at our strengths and weaknesses and we looked at Pakistan’s strengths and weaknesses.
“We knew that they hadn’t faced much fast bowling in the tournament and we felt with Alzarri Joseph and Chemar Holder, we felt they would have been factors in playing Pakistan and it really worked out for us today.”
With Zimbabwe needing three runs off the final over for victory last week, Paul ran out non-striker Richard Ngarava as he came into to bowl the first ball, earning West Indies a dramatic two-run win.
Paul’s actions attracted much criticism from some former and current international players.
The Young Windies showed no effects from the controversy, restricting Pakistan to 227 for six and then cruising to victory with 10 overs left.
“We are very happy. I don’t think many people expected the boys to get to the semi-finals but we thought they had the ability,” Gill said.
“We just hope they can continue playing well to get further in the tournament. We are extremely happy they have come to the party and made people in the West Indies proud.”
Opener Tevin Imlach with 54 and captain Shimron Hetmyer, 52, laid the groundwork for the win with half-centuries in a 77-run, second wicket stand.
Once they were separated, three wickets fell for 25 runs to leave the Windies 147 for four in the 28th over but they steadied themselves through Shamar Springer (37), Jyd Goolie (26 not out) and Paul (24 not out).
“I think we always had it under control. When we assessed the conditions, the wicket had gotten a lot better for batting,” Gill explained.
“There were two careless run outs but if you look at the Pakistan bowling we always felt we had it under control. They have a number of good spinners but the wicket didn’t really have much turn in it and we know we have batting right down to perhaps number 10.”
He continued: “We have some very good players, someone like Michael Frew who comes in at number eight – this is the Jamaica captain who bats at number five for Jamaica – so we were really never worried.
“As long as we restricted Pakistan to that score, we always felt confident, especially after the innings from both Hetmyer and Imlach, that we had the platform to win.”
Opting to bat, Pakistan were 57 for five in the 21st over but recovered through a 164-run, sixth wicket stand between Umair Masood (113) and Salman Fayyaz who finished on 58 not out.
Gill credited the pair for hauling Pakistan back into the contest.
“At one stage when Alzarri and Chemar were bowling, we felt we could have got them for around 150 but sometimes you have to give credit to the batsmen and on that occasion they really batted well and didn’t give many chances at all and the wicket had flattened out,” Gill explained.
“You expect opposition to come back into the game at some point in time. We were a little tardy with our bowling at times but overall, the final score is one that we could’ve gotten.”
