(Cricket news) T20 Champions West Indies put up a disappointing show at this year’s ICC T20 World Cup as they suffered their third loss of the tournament to exit from the semifinal race. They still have one more match to go but irrespective of the result they will finish above Bangladesh in Group 1. They have so far played four matches and have got 2 points with their only victory coming against Bangladesh.
West Indies started their World Cup defense in the worst possible way as they got out for 55 against England. It was their second lowest T20 score after the 45 all out against England in 2019, Chris Gayle was the only batter to reach double digits as he top scored with 13 runs. The England side reached the target in 9 overs as Akeal Hosein took two wickets while giving away 24 runs in his spell.
In the second match West Indies faced South Africa as the defending champions batted first with opener Evin Lewis scoring a well built half century while Lendl Simmons scored 16 from 35 balls without a single boundary. Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell failed to pick up where Lewis left off as the runs came in slow and the target was set to 144 in twenty overs for the proteas. The South African batters did the job in 19 overs as Akeal Hosein once again was the pick up of the bowlers as he picked up a wicket for 27 runs in his spell.
Riding on a two match losing streak, West Indies faced Bangladesh who were in the same situation as they too were looking for a desperate win. Lendl Simmons was not included in the team as Gayle opened with Lewis. The top order could not bring in runs as Roston Chase stayed on the crease for a bit as Nicholas Pooran scored a match winning 40 off 22 balls as the team ended up scoring up 142 in twenty overs. Bangladesh batters surprisingly fell short by just three runs as the defending champions got their first victory of the tournament.
In their fourth match, West Indies faced a young Sri Lankan side which thrashed the experienced bowlers as they batted first. Dwayne Bravo gave away 42 runs while taking a wicket, Jason Holder and Ravi Rampaul gave away 37 runs without taking a wicket. The Lankans set up a high score of 189 in 20 overs. The openers departed in the opening two overs as Pooran once again brought some hope as she scored 46 runs while his exit again put the team in trouble as Shimron Hetmyer blasted 81 runs in 54 balls and stayed till the end. The Caribbean side could not finish on a positive note as they fell short of 20 runs to confirm their exit from the semifinal race.
Shimron Hetmyer is currently the leading run getter for the team with 100 runs in 4 matches as Akeal Hosein leads the bowling charts with 4 wickets in as many matches. Chris Gayle failed to live up to the expectations as he has scored 30 runs in 4 matches, Ravi Rampaul has taken two wickets so far as the experienced players could not produce the magic in the shortest format. The West Indies will next play Australia in their fifth and final match of the tournament on 6th November.
