United Arab Emirates v West Indies
3rd One-Day International
Venue: Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Toss: UAE won and batted
Result: West Indies won by
Scorecard: http://bit.ly/uaevwi3rdodi
Kevin Sinclair continued his good form by picking up figures of 4-24 in the first innings, followed by a mature batting display from debutant Alick Athanaze, who scored 64 runs off 45 balls, to help the West Indies bring home the third and final ODI. The victory meant that the men from the Caribbean had a 3-0 clean sweep, in preparation for the upcoming ICC World Cup Qualifiers, which begin on June 18 in Zimbabwe.
After a quick start by the UAE batsmen, which saw them on 143 runs by the time they lost the third wicket in the 23rdover, the West Indies bowlers, led by Sinclair, were able to pull back and eventually bowl out the home team. On a spin friendly track, leggy Yannic Cariah had the next best figures of 2-34 in a significantly changed West Indies team, captained by Roston Chase. Raymon Reifer (1-16) and Keemo Paul (1-22) got a wicket a piece. The West Indies dominance in the field was underlined by two run outs, which completes the fall of wickets.
With 185 runs needed to win the match, Alick Athanaze came out to the pitch for his debut innings and played classy strokes all around the ground, to reach the fastest 50 on ODI debut by a West Indies batsman. Despite a slight collapse, there were valuable contributions from the middle order. Shamarh Brooks (39 from 58 balls), Keacy Carty (20 from 31 balls) batted well before stand-in captain Roston Chase (24 from 26 balls) came to finish the game off.
Aayan Afzal Khan, Muhammad Jawad Ullah and Palaniapan Meiyappan all picked up 2 wickets a piece in a decent bowling effort for the hosts.
Speaking to CWI Media after the match, player-of-the-match Kevin Sinclair stated: “This is my dream, to get an opportunity and be able to perform for the West Indies. It’s a good feeling. I wouldn’t say the pitch suited my bowling; it was a really good batting track. I was just trying to keep it simple and keep it as tight as possible, hence getting the wickets I got.”
The West Indies wrapped up a 3-0 series win. The squad will now travel to Zimbabwe for the World Cup Qualifiers, which will begin on 18 June. The West Indies will compete in Group A against Zimbabwe, Nepal, Netherlands and the United States of America. (Windiescricket).
