SHAR­JAH – Bran­don King’s maid­en One-Day In­ter­na­tion­al lift­ed West In­dies to a com­fort­able sev­en-wick­et vic­to­ry over min­nows Unit­ed Emi­rates, in the open­ing game of the three-match se­ries in the Unit­ed Arab Emi­rates Sun­day.

In pur­suit of a mod­est 203 at Shar­jah Crick­et Sta­di­um, West In­dies pro­duced a mea­sured chase to over­haul their tar­get in the 36th over, with the 28-year-old King top-scor­ing with a run-a-ball 112 in his 23rd ODI, notch­ing a dozen fours and four six­es.

Shamarh Brooks struck 44 and John­son Charles 24, both part­ner­ing with King in key ear­ly stands which pro­vid­ed the plat­form for West In­dies’ dom­i­nance.

Ear­li­er, seam­er Keemo Paul claimed three for 34 in his first ODI in near­ly a year as the Caribbean side re­strict­ed the hosts to 202 all out in the 48th over.

Leg-spin­ner Yan­nich Cari­ah (2-26) and debu­tant left-arm seam­er Do­minic Drakes (2-29) chipped in with a brace of wick­ets apiece, to en­sure the UAE nev­er found any re­al mo­men­tum af­ter choos­ing to bat.

Debu­tant Ali Naseer, a 19-year-old left-han­der, top-scored with 58 from 52 de­liv­er­ies while Vri­itya Ar­avind struck a pa­tient 40 from 77 de­liv­er­ies and Asif Khan, 27 from 41 balls.

Both open­ers per­ished cheap­ly, cap­tain Muham­mad Waseem to on­ly the sec­ond ball of the match, bowled through the gate by Paul and Aryansh Shar­ma (5), al­so bowled miss­ing a dri­ve at Drakes in the fourth over.

Ar­avind patched up the in­nings in a third wick­et stand of 75 – first with Rameez Shaz­ad who made 12 be­fore re­tir­ing hurt in the 12th over and then with Asif, who belt­ed two fours and a six.

Ar­avind struck three fours off 77 de­liv­er­ies be­fore nick­ing a wide ball from Cari­ah be­hind in the 25th, and Shaz­ad’s re­turn yield­ed lit­tle, adding just four be­fore de­part­ing in the fol­low­ing over, lbw to off-spin­ner Ros­ton Chase.

Wick­ets fell steadi­ly to leave UAE on 145 for sev­en in the 38th over be­fore Naseer, who lashed five fours and two six­es, put on 48 for the eighth wick­et with Karthik Meiyap­pan (11) to en­sure the tail wagged.

In re­ply, the re­sult was nev­er in doubt once King put on 48 with Charles for the first wick­et and then added a fur­ther 91 for the sec­ond wick­et with Brooks.

Charles, in his first ODI in sev­en years, lashed four fours and a six in a 19-ball cameo be­fore miss­ing a dri­ve at seam­er Za­hoor Khan and hav­ing his leg-stump pegged back in the ninth over.

Brooks, mean­while, faced 58 balls and count­ed five fours and looked a good bet for a half-cen­tu­ry be­fore he per­ished in the 28th over, lbw miss­ing a sweep at steady left-arm spin­ner Aayan Afzal Khan.

King’s first fifty was a cau­tious one, re­quir­ing 74 balls and achieved with a sin­gle to deep mid-wick­et in the 21st over. His sec­ond fifty was more ro­bust, how­ev­er, need­ing on­ly 33 balls.

He reached the land­mark with the sec­ond of his three six­es in the 34th over from 22-year-old leg-spin­ner Karthik Meiyap­pan – clear­ing the ropes at long on with a clean strike.

King dom­i­nat­ed a 54-run, third wick­et stand with Kea­cy Car­ty (sev­en not out) be­fore fi­nal­ly de­part­ing with vic­to­ry in sight, caught at the wick­et try­ing to steer off-spin­ner Karthik Meiyap­pan square on the off-side.

Cap­tain Shai Hope ar­rived to end the game quick­ly, thump­ing six­es off the first two de­liv­er­ies of the 36th over from Meiyap­pan.

CMC

Scores:

UAE 202 off 47.1 overs (Ali Naseer 58, Vri­itya Ar­avind 40, Asif Khan 27; Keemo Paul 3-34, Yan­nic Cari­ah 2-26, Do­minic Drakes 2-29)

WEST IN­DIES 206 for three off 35.2 overs (Bran­don King 112, Sha­narh Brooks 44, John­son Charles 24)

West In­dies won by sev­en wick­ets.