A team bowling effort restricted USA to 128 before Shai Hope made light work of the chase with eight sixes
Shai Hope’s blazing 82 not out and Roston Chase’s three wickets have kept the West Indies T20 World Cup dream alive as they thrashed fellow co-hosts United States by nine wickets in Barbados.
Hope, in just his second match of the tournament after replacing injured opener Brandon King, launched a spectacular display of power-hitting to put the West Indies’ campaign back on track.
He finished the chase with a six from the fifth ball of the 11th over. Along with his eight sixes, he hit four fours in his 39-ball knock.
After a loss to England in their first Super Eight match, the West Indies had to win to stay in semi-final contention.
USA surprised the cricket world by beating powerhouse Pakistan on their way to the Super Eight stage but after losses to South Africa and the West Indies in the second round, they would need a miracle to reach the final four.
Chase took a career-best 3-19 and Andre Russell 3-31 as the West Indies limited the United States to 128 in 19.5 overs after winning the toss.
“This is my favourite place to play cricket,” Chase said. “I’m from Barbados so I grew up playing a lot of cricket here. It’s our destiny and our goal to go out there and win this World Cup.”
Hope was added to the West Indies’ line up for Friday’s match as an injury replacement for King who has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a side strain suffered in their loss to England.
USA began well and despite the loss of Steven Taylor in the second over, reached a healthy 1-48 after the six-over Powerplay. But from then on regular wicket fell to prevent them gaining any momentum.
Chase, especially, put brakes on the scoring. He bowled captain Aaron Jones for 11 in the 10th over, then removed Corey Anderson and Harmeet Singh with consecutive balls in the 14th over.
Hope powered the West Indies run chase, hitting 42 from 23 balls in the Powerplay after which the West Indies were 58 without loss.
“A tough night for the boys,” Jones said. “Against the West Indies we needed a target of 175 or 180 and obviously we didn’t get that.”
West Indies face South Africa in their final Super Eight match on Sunday while the USA play England.
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