CHRISTCHURCH: A late batting onslaught led by Lendl Simmons and Andre Russell took the West Indies to 310-6 batting first against Pakistan in their crucial World Cup Pool B match in Christchurch on Saturday.
Simmons, who smacked a century in the West Indies first-up loss to Ireland, continued his commanding form with the bat, although this time he did get a life on 45.
It was one of four dropped catches by Pakistan as the West Indies, who relied heavily on Simmons and Darren Sammy for runs against Ireland, this time spread the workload.
Denesh Ramdin contributed 51, Darren Bravo made 49, before retiring hurt, and Russell was unbeaten on 42 with knocks of 38 from Marlon Samuels and 30 from Sammy.
Both sides are looking for their first win in the tournament after Pakistan also lost their first game, beaten by old foes India.
Simmons and Sammy put on 65 for the fifth wicket as the West Indies stepped up the run rate in the closing overs from being 194-4 when Ramdin was removed in the 40th.
With Sammy’s dismissal, Russell provided late fireworks with three fours and four sixes in his 42 off 17 deliveries.
Simmons faced 46 balls and hit four fours and two sixes before being run out on the last ball of the innings.
The final 10 overs produced 115 runs with 51 of them in the brief 17-ball partnership between Simmons and Russell at the end.
Bravo was unfortunate not to reach what would have been his 17th ODI half-century when he was forced to retire hurt with a pulled hamstring.
Until then, it had been an innings filled with drama for the 26-year-old left-hander.
He successfully appealed a caught behind decision on 14, required medical treatment on 30 when hit on the head by a Younis Khan throw going for a quick single and was dropped by Shahid Afridi on 46.
Afridi was guilty of two dropped catches, giving Samuels a let off on 29.
Mohammad Irfan had Dwayne Smith dropped on 12 by Nasir Jamshed at third man, although that was a short-lived disappointment for Irfan as the batsmen scampered through for an unlikely single.
With his next delivery, again short, Chris Gayle was unable to control an attempted hook and Wahab Riaz took the catch at long leg.
Gayle’s four off 14 deliveries continued an extended run of low scores.
The West Indies icon with the “master-blaster” reputation has averaged a mere 14.42 over 19 innings in the 20 months since his last century.
Simmons had a life on 45 when Irfan spilled a catch after getting both hands to the ball.
For Pakistan, Haris Sohail was the most successful bowler although his two wickets came at an expensive 62 runs. –AFP
