Windies lift World Cup hopes

The West Indies were the first team at the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup to reach the Super 8 stage yet skipper Shai Hope was adamant there was no complacency when they took on Italy in their final preliminary match on Thursday.

West Indies produced a fine all-around effort to trounce Nepal by nine wickets at Wankhede Stadium on Sunday to qualify for the Super Eight stage.

Hope said: “We’ve been playing really good cricket over the last couple of games and series and it’s just about bringing it together and hopefully we can carry it all the way through to the back end of the tournament.”

He was especially pleased with his bowlers, who set up the victory by limiting Nepal to 133 for eight. Jason Holder was the main destroyer with 4-27, while Matthew Forde conceded just 10 runs from his four overs while taking a wicket.

West Indies came into the tournament short of form, losing a T20I series against South Africa 2-1 in January and a three-match T20I series by the same score line to Nepal last September in Sharjah. However, a T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, where they emerged as champions when both countries previously hosted the event, seemed to bring out the best in the Caribbean heroes.

In a surprising move, West Indies dropped medium-pacer Romario Shepherd against Nepal, who took a five-wicket haul, including a hat-trick, in the first match. His replacement, pacer Matthew Forde, bowled superbly with the new ball and finished with 1-10 in four overs which included a maiden-wicket over in the power play, a rarity in T20 cricket.

West Indies will play their first Super Eight game at the Wankhede on Feb 23.