LUCKNOW—West Indies won their first ODI series in five years after beating Afghanistan by 47 runs in their second one-day international here on Saturday.
West Indies took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. The final game is scheduled for tomorrow.
“(It) feels good. We haven’t won a series for a long time (and) it was on our minds back home,” West Indies captain Kieron Pollard, who is leading the ODI team for the first time, said afterwards.
Afghanistan’s batters continued to struggle against West Indies pace and spin and were bowled out for 200 with more than four overs to spare.
Off-spinner Roston Chase (3-30) helped to mop up the top order before seamer Sheldon Cottrell (3-29) and leg-spinner Hayden Walsh (3-36) ran through the lower middle-order and the tail. The defeat stretched Afghanistan’s losing streak in ODIs to 11 matches in a row.
Top-scorer Najibullah Zadran (56) and Mohammad Nabi (32) shared 68 runs for the sixth wicket but both went in successive overs as Afghanistan lost their last five wickets for only 23 runs.
Earlier, after being put in to bat, Nicholas Pooran smashed 67 off 50 balls to help West Indies reach 247-9. West Indies had been reduced to 182-6 after openers Evin Lewis (54) and Shai Hope (43) put on 98 runs.
Lewis and Hope denied the four-pronged Afghanistan spin attack until midway through the innings when skipper Rashid Khan finally broke the stand in his fourth over by trapping Hope leg before wicket. Lewis followed in the next over when off-spinner Javed Ahmadi had him clean bowled around his legs.
Chase, who hit 94 in the first ODI in West Indies’ seven-wicket win on Wednesday, was again clean bowled by Mujeeb Ur Rehman while trying to pull the unorthodox spinner over midwicket.
Although Afghanistan kept on taking wickets, Pooran took charge in the last six overs before he fell in the last over while attempting to clear the long-off fence.
Pooran hit seven fours and three sixes in his blistering knock that gave West Indies enough runs to record their first ODI series victory since they beat Bangladesh at home in 2014.
“I just went out and played according to the situation of the game. We needed someone to lift the tempo of the innings and give us a score we could defend, so I knew I have to get myself in and look to get a good score,” Pooran said after the match.
“Every game, it’s all about improvement. Whenever I get myself in a situation, when the team is under pressure I want to come out on top. It was a great team performance and we’re happy to win the series.”
Afghan skipper Rashid Khan meanwhile said his team needed confidence going forward.
“The first 40 overs we bowled well (but) after that we lost the momentum,” Rashid said.
“I think we have the talent, we need to believe in ourselves. I think that is what we are lacking and once we get that, we can beat any side.”
WEST INDIES
S.Hope lbw b Khan 43
E.Lewis b Ahmadi 54
S.Hetmyer c Ahmadi b Nabi 34
R.Chase b Ur Rahman 9
N.Pooran c Ashraf b Naveen-ul-Haq 67
K.Pollard c&b Ashraf 3
J.Holder run out 9
R.Shepherd c Ashraf b Naveen-ul-Haq 6
A.Joseph not out 1
H.Walsh c Khan b Naveen-ul-Haq 4
Extras (w11, lb6): 17
TOTAL (9 wkts, 50 overs) 247
Did not bat: S.Cottrell.
Wkts at: 1-98 (Hope), 2-106 (Lewis), 3-137 (Chase), 4-156 (Hetmyer), 5-160 (Pollard), 6-182 (Holder), 7-232 (Shepherd), 8-242 (Pooran), 9-247 (Walsh).
Bowling: Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman 10-1-52-1, Naveen-ul-Haq 9-0-60-3, Sharafudin Nabi 10-2-37-1, Sharafuddin Ashraf 9-1-37-1, Rashid Khan 10-0-45-1, Javed Ahmadi 2-0-10-1.
AFGHANISTAN
H.Zazai c Cottrell b Chase 23
J.Ahmadi c&b Cottrell 0
Rahmat Shah run out 33
Ikram Ali Khil c Holder b Chase 19
Asghar Afghan c Lewis b Chase 3
Najibullah Zadran c Pooran b Cottrell 56
Mohammad Nabi lbw b Walsh 32
Rashid Khan st Pooran b Walsh 2
Sharafuddin Ashraf c Hetmyer b Walsh 13
Mujeeb Ur Rahman c Shepherd b Cottrell 0
Naveen-ul-Haq not out 8
Extras: (lb8, w2, nb1) 11
TOTAL: (all out, 45.4) 200
Wkts at: 1-1 (Ahmadi), 2-54 (Rahmat), 3-61 (Zazai), 4-79 (Afghan), 5-109 (I Ali Khil), 6-177 (Zadran), 7-177 (Nabi), 8-184 (Rashid Khan), 9-185 (Mujeeb), 10-200 (Ashraf).
Bowling: Sheldon Cottrell 9-0-29-3, Jason Holder 10-1-52-0, Roston Chase 10-0-30-3, Alzarri Joseph 6-0-22-0, Romario Shepherd 3-0-22-0, Kieron Pollard 1-0-1-0, Hayden Walsh 6.4-0-36-3.
Result: WI won by 47 runs
Man-of-the-match: Nicholas Pooran (WI)