Two-time champions West Indies face a huge task to qualify for the Cricket World Cup after losing to the Netherlands in a thrilling final group game decided by a super on Monday. Nicholas Pooran’s second hundred from the qualifiers propelled the West Indies to an impressive 374-6, but Teja Nidamanuru hit 111 in reply and the Dutch needed one off the last ball for victory. Jason Holder took a brilliant catch to stop Logan van Beek as the scores tied, but Van Beek shot Holder by 30 runs in the super over to set up a remarkable victory in Harare. He hit 4, 6, 4, 6, 6, 4 on consecutive deliveries.
Van Beek then limited the West Indies to just eight balls from five as he removed Johnson Charles and Romario Shepherd with successive deliveries to seal an extraordinary triumph. “I can’t really explain it at the moment. We wanted to do something special,” said Van Beek.
“I’ve been playing for a long time. The number of games I’ve lost from those situations was just satisfying to cross the line.”
“Now we have the chance to go to the World Cup in India and it’s really huge,” he added.
Pooran shot an unbeaten 104 off 65 balls after openers Brandon King (76) and Charles (54) both made half centuries as the West Indies put up an impressive total batting first. King and Charles provided a strong platform with a 101-run opening partnership. Shai Hope added 47 in another century stand with Pooran before Keemo Paul failed to hit a rapid-fire 46.
The Netherlands reached 76 without a loss to give chase, but it wasn’t until Nidamanuru and captain Scott Edwards (67) came together that they looked in with a chance of success. Once falling in successive overs, Van Beek and Aryan Dutt rose to the challenge, but faltered with five runs needed from the last five balls and the finish seemingly in sight.
After failing to complete the final episode of Alzarri Joseph, Van Beek exploded in the super over, putting the West Indies in real danger of missing the World Cup later this year. “We let ourselves down there,” said Hope, the West Indies captain.
“We know what we have to do now. It’s an unfortunate situation we’ve put ourselves in.” The Netherlands go through as Group A runners-up and take over two points, but the West Indies start with zero and must beat Scotland, Oman and Sri Lanka with their hopes hanging by a thread.
Zimbabwean Hammer USA
Hosts Zimbabwe took four wins from four as they crushed the United States by 304 points, the second largest margin of victory in terms of points in ODI history. Sean Williams hit 174 off 101 balls as Zimbabwe achieved their highest one-day total with a massive 408-6 and then knocked out the US for just 104.
They narrowly missed the record for the largest margin of victory in a one-day international, set at the start of the year when India beat Sri Lanka by 317 runs at Thiruvananthapuram.
“It was a fantastic wicket. The way we started there was a bit slow so we thought if we could pick up the intensity against the spinners we could see where we go,” said Williams.
Zimbabwe progress to the Super Six stage as group winners, dragging in four points, well positioned to secure a spot at the October-November tournament in India. “We have found our momentum and we look forward to continuing it,” added Williams.
Wicket-keeper Joylord Gumbie hit a steady 78 at the top of the league, but Williams took the lead as Zimbabwe stepped on the accelerator as the replacement captain arrived at the crease. Williams hit 21 fours and five sixes before going into the deep end in the penultimate over, with Sikandar Raza scoring 48 off 27 balls and Ryan Burl scoring 47 off just 16 pitches.
Only three American batsmen reached double figures, as Richard Ngarava and all-rounder Raza both took two wickets, while three run-outs compounded a dismal performance by the Americans.
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