Georgetown, June 3: West Indies beat Papua New Guinea by five wickets in their T20 World Cup opening match here on Sunday.The West Indies chased down the target of 137 with six balls to spare with Roston Chase remaining not out on 42 off 27 balls while Brandon King made 34.
For PNG, Assad Vala was the most successful bowler with two wickets for 28 runs.
Sent in to bat, Papua New Guinea made 136 for 8.
Sese Bau top-scored for PNG with 50 off 43 balls while wicketkeeper Kiplin Doriga remained not out on 27.
For the West Indies, Andre Russell (2/19) and Alzarri Joseph (2/34) took two wickets apiece.
Rovman Powell, WI captain, said, Their plans were simple, and they play some good cricket. It’s important to get two points, and that’s what we did. It’s 10-15 too much (PNG’s total). As a bowling group, that’s what we want to tighten up. Since I turned captain, 70-80 percent team has been playing together. Starting from the bowling effort, he bowled very well (talking about Chase). And then towards the end, to hold his composure in a pressure game in WC, it’s pleasing for us. Weren’t up to the straps to the level we want to play. We were at 60-70 percent. Hopefully we can correct that for the second game.
Assad Vala, PNG captain: We knew we missed a trick towards the end. Another 15-20 runs would’ve been nice. But from the wickets we lost early, to post 136 was a good effort. Yeah, really happy with the way we fought. Got wickets in key moments. It’s an opportunity and challenge we look forward to. Want to play our best cricket against the best players. He’s been helpful with the wickets and conditions (talking about Phil Simmons).
Roston Chase, Player of the Match: Very pleased to start the tournament with a win and to take the team over the line. I knew that it was hard for the batters coming in, gave myself time and backed my skills. I watched the PNG batters, they took their time and once they got in it was easy to score. I have worked hard, had a preparation camp in Antigua and brought that confidence into the game. We don’t want to take any team lightly, they (PNG) are here which means they are deserving, we want to play the same way we would play India or Australia.
