(CMC) – West Indies “A” grabbed a 2-1 lead in their Twenty20 series against hosts Nepal after opener Johnson Charles carried his bat for a dynamic Player-of-the-Match hundred to set the foundation for a 76-run win yesterday.
The 35-year-old St Lucian cracked 13 fours and seven sixes in an undefeated 119 off 61 balls and was the cornerstone of the Caribbean side’s total of 227 for three after they decided to bat in the third T20 of the five-match series at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground.
against Nepal (Nepal Cricket Association Photo).
Leg-spinner Hayden Walsh Jr. then followed up with a spell of three for 28 from four overs, and left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie ended with two for 28 from four overs, and the Nepalese were bowled out for 151 in 19.2 overs.
Nepal made four changes to their playing 11, including resting Rohit Paudel, their captain and most prolific batsman, in the first two matches, and their batting struggled to come to terms with the attack of the visitors.
Opener Lokesh Bam and Karan Khatri Chhetri, batting at nine, made 28, and Kushal Malla got 20, but no other batsman reached 20, and there were no significant partnerships to bring any level of stability to the Nepalese batting.
Left-arm spinner Fabian Allen, playing his first match in the series, grabbed the breakthrough for West Indies “A” in the fourth over.
He got opener Binod Bhandari caught at backward square leg for 19, and that was the only success the Caribbean side had in the Power Play, which ended with the hosts 45 for one.
Motie struck in the seventh over when he got Anil Sah caught at short third man for 14, and Nepal stumbled to 77 for three at the halfway stage after Walsh got Aarif Sheikh caught in “cow corner” for three in the 10th over.
The visitors poached four wickets – including two to Walsh and a run out – in the next five overs to leave the chase of the Nepalese in ruins, and the new-ball pair of left-arm pacer Obed McCoy and Matthew Forde returned to close out the match.
Nepal won the series opener by four wickets with two balls remaining last Saturday at the same venue, where the Caribbean side won the second match by 10 runs the next day. The remaining two matches will be played on Thursday and Saturday at the same ground.
Earlier, West Indies “A” were set back when Alick Athanaze was run out for 17 in the fourth over, but Charles and Andre Fletcher, the self-proclaimed “Spice Man”, eased the discomfort with a stand of 145 for the second wicket.
They carried the Caribbean side to 71 for one at the close of the power play, 109 for one at the halfway stage, and 162 for one entering the final five overs.
Charles was 98 when Fletcher was caught at long-on off left-arm spinner Sagar Dhakal in the 16th over for 53 off 33 balls that included four fours and three sixes.
But Charles batted through until the end, reaching his hundred from 55 balls in the next over. When he slapped a wide delivery from pacer Gulshan Jha into extra cover, Dipendra Singh Airee mis-fielded and enabled him to run a deuce.
Nepal used six bowlers, but only two got a wicket; Gulshan conceded only 24 from his allotted four overs; and Kamal Airee was the most expensive, coughing up 53.
The tour to Nepal is a first for any West Indies side, and according to lead selector Desmond Haynes, it serves as another phase in preparation for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup to be staged in June in the Caribbean and the United States.
He added that it is an invaluable opportunity before the World Cup to get hopefuls not involved in the Indian Premier League and emerging prospects playing competitive T20 matches against the Nepalese, one of the ICC Associate teams that qualified as one of the 20 teams that will feature in the biggest T20I World Cup to be staged.