(CMC) – Opener Brandon King struck a second One-Day International hundred as under-pressure West Indies halted their three-game losing skid with a convincing seven-wicket over Oman in their penultimate game of the ICC World Cup Qualifiers yesterday.
Tasked with chasing 222 at the Harare Sports Club, West Indies managed to shake off the ghosts of the last two weeks and reel in their target in the 40th over, with the right-handed King top-scoring with exactly 100 from 104 deliveries.
Captain Shai Hope guided his side over the line with an unbeaten 63 of 65 balls, the Caribbean side enduring little discomfort in a straightforward run chase over the Gulf state which only attained ODI status four years ago and is comprised largely of semi-professionals.
Sent in earlier, Oman made a fist of it by gathering 221 for nine from their 50 overs, Suraj Kumar (53 not out) and Shoaib Khan (50) getting fifties, and Kashyap Prajapati (31) and Ayaan Khan (30) chipping in with valuable knocks.
Fast bowling all-rounder Romario Shepherd, in only his third game of the campaign, finished with three for 44 while medium pacer Kyle Mayers picked up two for 31.
The points gained from the win were meaningless, however, with West Indies already eliminated from contention for a place at the World Cup in India later this year following their devastating defeat to Scotland last weekend.
“[The performance] is a little too late, unfortunately. But I’m happy to see the strides that we have taken especially in the past few games that we played,” Hope said afterwards.
“In international cricket now, there are no walk-overs. Every team has quality players [so] you have to respect the game of cricket, and I think that’s what we did today.”
“We played quality cricket from the start. Obviously we got the advantage of bowling first this time around but we’ve got to respect the cricket game.”
Opener Jatinder Singh (8) and captain Aqib Ilyas (1) both fell cheaply to leave Oman 29 for two in the seventh over before Ayaan Khan put on 30 for the third wicket with opener Prajapati and a further 36 for the fourth wicket with Mohammad Nadeem (20) to stablise the innings.
However, a cluster of wickets – three going down for 21 runs – left Oman stumbling at 116 for six in the 32nd over but Suraj and Shoaib bailed their side out in an excellent stand of 85 for the seventh wicket.
The 34-year-old Suraj struck five fours and a six off 65 deliveries while Shoaib, 30, counted five fours and a six in a breezy 54-ball innings.
Once Shoaib was run out at the non-striker’s end in the 47th, however, Oman lost impetus and there was no grand finish.
In reply, Johnson Charles failed again with four – his fourth single digit score in his last five outings – when he was clean bowled by 32-year-old pacer Kaleemullah in the second over with just seven runs on the board.
But any hopes of a shock win were quickly squashed by King, the right-hander hitting 15 fours while putting on 80 for the second wicket with Keacy Carty (29), and 96 for the third with Hope who lashed four fours and two sixes.
King, whose maiden ODI century came on last month’s tour of the United Arab Emirates, strolled to his fifty off 47 deliveries in the 17th over before reaching triple figures in the 35th over off 102 balls.
He unfortunately perished four balls later to a catch at the wicket but Hope put the finishing touches on the chase in a 39-run, unbroken fourth wicket stand with Nicholas Pooran (19 not out). West Indies face Sri Lanka in their final game tomorrow.
