Roston Chase has steered West Indies through a nervy chase in their T20 World Cup opener at Guyana National Stadium, seeing off a brave effort by unfancied Papua New Guinea.
Chase made an unbeaten 42 off 27 balls to seal a five-wicket win with an over to spare, but it was not plain sailing on Sunday as they chased down a modest target of 137.
When Sherfane Rutherford fell off the final ball of the 16th over, his side still needed 40 runs off the last four overs and the game appeared to be heading for a nail-biting conclusion.
But Chase showed no signs of nerves as he finished things off in relative comfort, hitting four boundaries and a six in his last seven deliveries in a dramatic gear shift.
“I knew from our first innings bowling, it was always hard for batsmen coming in to start,” Chase said.
“To start the tournament with a win is always good. I had to take it home for the team, and I did it.”
PNG, ranked 20th in the world by the International Cricket Council, were asked to bat first and reached 8-136 after losing three wickets in the powerplay.
Their innings was built around a knock of 50 from Sese Bau, while wicketkeeper Kiplin Doriga chipped in 27 not out.
Andre Russell (2-19) and Alzarri Joseph (2-34) took two wickets apiece for the Windies – the latter slightly expensive but responsible for cleaning up Bau – and Akeal Hosein 1-9 from his three overs.
Alei Nao put early pressure on the home side when he had Johnson Charles lbw for a golden duck before Brandon King (34) and Nicholas Pooran (27) chipped away at the target.
Papua New Guinea’s bowlers kept pace off the ball as the scoring slowed and when Doriga collected a pair of smart catches standing up to see off captain Rovman Powell (15) and Rutherford (two) in quick succession, it looked like game on.
After claiming 2-10 from his first three overs, captain Assad Vala was taken for 18 in his last visit, leaving Chase standing tall at the close.
“Credit has to be given to PNG, their plans were simple and they played good cricket,” Powell said.
In the late game at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, Namibia needed a Super Over to defeat Oman.
Oman batted first and were knocked over for 109, Ruben Trumpelmann taking 4-21 off his four overs.
In reply Namibia seemed to be cruising towards victory, but were held to 6-109 off their 20 overs.
Namibia then scored 0-21 off their Super Over, before holding Oman to 1-10 to clinch victory.
On Saturday, co-hosts United States enjoyed a seven-wicket win over Canada in the tournament opener in Texas.
With AP.
