West Indies enjoyed a crushing 141 run victory over Zimbabwe to take a 2-1 lead in their five match One-day series after dismissing the tourists for just 104 at Arnos Vale in St Vincent.
Seamers Darren Sammy and Kemar Roach ripped through the Zimbabwe batting line-up after a Shivnarine Chanderpaul half-century had helped West Indies to a solid 245 for nine from their allotted 50 overs.
Openers Chris Gayle (33) and Adrian Barath (35) gave the home side a steady start before Chanderpaul and Denesh Ramdin put on 65 for the third wicket and Dwayne Bravo led a late flurry to boost the total.
But the game was won with the pace of Roach (3-28) and the intelligent medium pace of Sammy (4-26) with Hamilton Masakadza (35) the only Zimbabwe batsman to establish himself.
Zimbabwe made a decent start and reached 51 inside 10 overs before the second wicket fell.
The tourists never recovered though from the loss of four wickets for seven runs with Sammy and Roach taking full advantage of a wicket which offered help to the seamers.
Sammy would have had five wickets had Gayle not dropped a relatively straightforward catch at slip, having earlier taken a superb one-handed grab to dismiss Greg Lamb off Roach.
"It was definitely a team effort and I am very happy with the result," said Gayle.
"Well done Darren Sammy, he could have got five wickets and it was my fault he didn't.
"I am sure Zimbabwe will come back hard at us on Friday and we shouldn't get carried away now," he added.
The series concludes with games on Friday and Sunday and Zimbabwe skipper Prosper Utseya said he expected a better display.
"We just failed to bat properly, we thought we could chase that total but we didn't bat well. They made use of the conditions, they bowled in the right areas and deserved the win," he said.
Scoreboard
West Indies innings
C. Gayle st Taibu b Utseya 33
A. Barath c Maruma b Utseya 35
S. Chanderpaul run out 58
D. Ramdin c Utseya b Maruma 19
N. Deonarine c Chigumbura b Lamb 21
D.J. Bravo c Matsikenyeri b Chigumbura 24
K. Pollard st Taibu b Cremer 17
D. Sammy not out 7
R. Rampaul run out 14
N. Miller b Chigumbura 0
K. Roach not out 2
Extras (lb-7, w-8) 15
Total (9 wickets; 50 overs) 245
Fall of wickets: 1-48, 2-86, 3-151, 4-151, 5-195, 6-207, 7-225, 8-242, 9-243.
Bowling: E.Chigumbura 9-1-43-2, R.Price 10-1-42-0, G.Lamb 10-0-44-1, P.Utseya 10-0-47-2, A.Cremer 7-0-43-1, T.Maruma 4-0-19-1.
Zimbabwe innings
V. Sibanda b Roach 0
H. Masakadza c Ramdin b Sammy 35
B. Taylor c & b Sammy 19
T. Taibu c Ramdin b Sammy 1
S. Matsikenyeri lbw b Bravo 0
G. Lamb c Gayle b Roach 7
E. Chigumbura lbw b Roach 10
T. Maruma b Sammy 2
A. Cremer c Miller b Bravo 6
P. Utseya not out 13
R. Price c Gayle b Miller 4
Extras (lb-1, w-4, nb-2) 7
Total (all out, 31.5 overs) 104
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-51, 3-57, 4-58, 5-58, 6-72, 7-75, 8-80, 9-96
Bowling: K.Roach 9-1-28-3, R.Rampaul 4-0-23-0, DJ.Bravo 7-0-23-2, D.Sammy 10-1-26-4, N.Miller 1.5-0-3-1.
© 2024 Rediff.com -