Series winners WI ‘A’ lose final battle with Nepal

KIRTIPUR, Nepal (CMC):

WEST INDIES ‘A’ had to settle for a 3-2 win in their five-match Twenty20 series against Nepal after the hosts followed up purposeful bowling with solid batting to clinch a six-wicket win yesterday.

Left-arm pacer Obed McCoy ended with three for 36 from 3.5 overs for the Caribbean side, but the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup-bound pair of Anil Sah and Aasif Sheikh hit half-centuries to lead a successful chase of 173 for the Nepalese in the final match at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground.

McCoy got them both, but Sah hit four fours and four sixes in the top score of 58 off 45 balls, and Sheikh supported with 51 off 35 balls that included two fours and five sixes to set the foundation for the run chase.

Nepal entered the final five overs requiring 52 from 30 balls – and the match swung decisively when leg-spinner Hayden Walsh Jr conceded 16 from the 16th over, including two sixes to Sah.

McCoy got Sah in the next over and conceded only five to keep the contest on a knife’s edge, but pacer Matthew Forde gave away nine in the 18th over, including a six to Kushal Malla, whose power hitting came to the fore in the following over.

McCoy was entrusted with the penultimate over with 22 required, and Malla made a mess of his figures, clobbering him for a six and a four, then successive fours either side of four leg-byes to end on 37 not out and seal the deal for the Nepalese with seven balls remaining.

The result meant the series, which was played exclusively at the TUICG, ended the way it started after the hosts won the first match by four wickets before the Caribbean side rebounded to win the next three by margins of 10 runs, 76 runs, and 28 runs.

Consistent batting

Earlier, consistent batting down the order led by 42 from left-hander Alick Athanaze, batting at five, rather than opening, had enabled West Indies ‘A’ to reach a respectable 172 for seven after they decided to bat.

Their captain Roston Chase made 33, T20I World Cup-bound senior West Indies teammate Johnson Charles got 24, and Forde, unfortunate to have missed out on a place in the global showpiece, added 23.

The visitors revamped their top-order batting, bringing in all-rounder Kadeem Alleyne to open the batting, and left-hander Mark Deyal for his first match to bat at three. Nepal bowlers, led by T20I World Cup-bound pair of pacer Sompal Kami, with three for 16 from his allotted four overs, and left-arm spinner Sagar Dhakal, with three for 17 two overs, thrived.