Sydney: Jerome Taylor and Jason Holder bowled West Indies to a comfortable six-wicket win over UAE and qualified for the quarter finals to play against New Zealand. The pace duo shared seven wickets between themselves to bowl out UAE for 175 at the McLean Park in Napier.
West Indies, after winning the toss, reduced UAE to 46 for six before a fighting 107-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Nazir Aziz and Amjad Javed lifted them out to a modest total of 175.
UAE skipper Mohammad Tauqir candidly admitted that his batsmen could not cope with the West Indies pacers’ swing and seam bowling. “The wicket was assisting the seam bowlers. It was swinging and seaming and our batters could not cope up with that kind of seam and swing. Had we won the toss we would have bowled first, however our recovery from 46 for six to 175 was indeed remarkable, but it was not enough.”
Aziz topscored with 60 runs off 86 balls with eight boundaries while Amjad Javed scored 56 off 99 balls with seven four and one six.
West Indies raced to victory though half centuries from Johnson Charles, who hit 55 off 40 balls with two sixes and nine boundaries and Jonathan Carter’s unbeaten 50 off 58 balls with five boundaries.
Charles, after the match, revealed that his team had gone full out to record a big win over UAE. “It was a must-win game, and we had to win by a big margin. A lot of guys came out and played good cricket today, and you can’t ask for much more.”
Right arm medium pacer Javed also sparkled with the ball taking two wickets for 29 runs while left-arm pacer Manjula Guruge took two wickets for 40 runs before West Indies won with 117 balls to spare.
Holder, who took four wickets for 27 runs along with Taylor who picked 3 for 36, is now looking forward to produce such a spell against New Zealand in the quarter finals. “It’s a quarter final game and cricket is played on that day. Obviously New Zealand has been playing decent cricket. They haven’t lost a game, so hopefully in this quarter final we’ll beat them,” said Holder confidently.
UAE ended their World Cup campaign winless but with some creditable performances. Asked to reflect on his team’s show throughout the World Cup, Tauqir said: “We have consistently performed under Coach Aaqib Javed’s guidance in this tournament. Shaiman Anwar was very consistent. I think overall our bowling department was pretty consistent in every game. Our fielding and batting department needs improvement. We take a lot of positives from the whole event, and overall it was a good learning experience for us and we thoroughly enjoyed this tournament.”
UAE had put up a stiff fight against Ireland and Zimbabwe but could not withstand the skills of top nations like India, Pakistan, South Africa and West Indies. Tauqir expressed his delight over Aziz-Javed partnership for the seventh wicket which equalled the highest for the seventh wicket in World Cup history. Javed had also added 107 runs for the seventh wicket with Shaiman Anwar when UAE played Ireland earlier in this tournament. Incidentally, they are the only two instances of century stands for the seventh wicket in World Cup history.
“This partnership saved us a lot of embarrassment and saved the day. Nasir and Amjad batted superbly well. It is a World Cup record partnership for the seventh wicket,” said Tauqir, who believes that his team would have ended with one win in the World Cup had Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien’s catch was not floored.”
Though Holder and Taylor destroyed their batting, Tauqir said the best bowling they faced in the World Cup was the pace attack from South Africa’s Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel. “Facing them has given us a lot of confidence. I think that innings was a highlight for us. We almost played 49 overs in that match. It was the most hostile bowling that we faced in this tournament.”
