Opener Brandon King’s century has given the West Indies cricket team a much-needed victory, breaking their three-match losing streak in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers. The under-pressure Caribbean side secured a comfortable seven-wicket win over Oman in their penultimate game in Zimbabwe.
Chasing a target of 222 at the Harare Sports Club, the West Indies team achieved their goal in the 40th over, with King leading the charge with an impressive innings of 100 runs from 104 deliveries. Captain Shai Hope supported him with an unbeaten 63 off 65 balls, as the West Indies cruised to victory against Oman, who only gained One-Day International (ODI) status four years ago and largely comprises of semi-professionals.
Having been sent in to bat, Oman fought hard to post a respectable total of 221 for nine in their 50 overs. Suraj Kumar top-scored with an unbeaten 53, while Shoaib Khan contributed with a half-century. Kashyap Prajapati and Ayaan Khan also made valuable contributions with the bat.
Fast-bowling all-rounder Romario Shepherd, playing his third game of the tournament, took three wickets for 44 runs, while medium-pacer Kyle Mayers claimed two wickets for 31 runs.
Although the West Indies gained points from this victory, their World Cup dreams were dashed following their devastating defeat to Scotland last weekend, rendering the result meaningless in terms of qualification for the tournament in India later this year.
Reflecting on the team’s performance, Hope acknowledged that it came too late. However, he expressed satisfaction with the strides they have made in recent matches, recognizing the importance of respecting every team in international cricket.
Oman got off to a shaky start in their innings, losing opener Jatinder Singh and captain Aqib Ilyas cheaply. However, Ayaan Khan’s partnerships with Prajapati and Mohammad Nadeem stabilized the innings. Oman suffered a collapse, losing three wickets for 21 runs, but Suraj Kumar and Shoaib Khan came to the rescue with an excellent seventh-wicket partnership of 85 runs.
In reply, the West Indies stumbled early on when Johnson Charles was clean bowled for just four runs. However, King’s prolific innings, featuring 15 boundaries, laid the foundation for the successful run chase. He put on important partnerships of 80 runs with Keacy Carty and 96 runs with Hope, who also played an aggressive innings. King reached his half-century in the 17th over and went on to register his second ODI hundred in the 35th over. Unfortunately, he was dismissed soon after, but Hope and Nicholas Pooran comfortably finished off the chase.
In their final game of the tournament, the West Indies will face Sri Lanka on Friday.
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