(ICC) Roston Chase and Andre Russell calmed West Indies’ fears as they successfully chased down a target of 137, winning by five wickets against Papua New Guinea to give the co-hosts a winning start to their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 campaign.
Papua New Guinea had set a reasonable target for them to chase, thanks mostly to Sese Bau who led the recovery after losing two early wickets to muster 136/8.
Bau came to the crease after Tony Ura was caught behind by Pooran off Romario Shepherd, followed by Lega Siaka three balls later after a sizzling angled delivery from Akeal Hosein.
And he hit 50 – his fourth in the format for his country, including six fours and a six – before he was bowled by Alzarri Joseph with three and a half overs remaining.
Earlier, Andre Russell had taken the 50th wicket of his T20 international career when Charles Amini nicked behind on 12.
In the response, West Indies were perhaps not as assured as they would have liked.
Alei Nao had struck in the second over, removing Johnson Charles lbw for a duck – and could have had another had he opted to review another lbw shout three balls later, this one against Nicholas Pooran, which ball-tracking showed would have hit the stumps.
Brandon King made some in-roads, scoring 34 off 29 balls before his skied shot was caught by Lega Siaka off the bowling of captain Assad Vala.
Earlier, he had had able assistance from Nicholas Pooran, who had added a valuable 27 before his dismissal, caught by Tony Ura off a John Kariko delivery.
But West Indies found themselves on 97/5 with just four overs remaining after the loss of Rovman Powell and Sherfane Rutherford – and there were certainly some nerves in the camp.
It was left to Chase (42*)* and Russell (15) to complete the job and they did so to give the co-hosts a winning start.
“I’m very pleased. Starting the tournament with a win is always good. I needed to take it home for the team, and I did it,” said Chase afterwards.
Papua New Guinea captain Assad Vala was obviously disappointed with the result but pleased with his team, saying: “We were very happy with the way we fought – we got wickets at key moments.”
