T20 World Cup 2024: USA vs West Indies, 46th Match – Who Said What?

West Indies Team. (Photo Source: ICC)

The West Indies registered a comfortable nine-wicket win against the USA in a crucial Super Eight fixture in the T20 World Cup 2024 on Saturday, June 22, at Kensington Oval, Barbados.

Rovman Powell won the toss and invited the USA to bat first. Andre Russell gave the West Indies the early breakthrough, as he got the better of Steven Taylor in the second over of the match. Andries Gous continued from where he left against South Africa in the last game, as he hit a flurry of boundaries and stitched a 48-run partnership alongside Nitish Kumar off just 32 balls.

However, both players departed in consecutive overs and this was just the beginning of USA’s downfall. Roston Chase bowled a superb spell through the middle overs and accounted for the big wickets of Aaron Jones, Corey, Anderson, and Harmeet Singh. The off-spinner finished with figures of 3/19, his career-best in T20Is. Milind Kumar and Shadley van Schalkwyk showed a fight with the bat and helped their team get past the 100-run mark. Ali Khan hit a couple of boundaries at the death before the USA were bowled out for 128 in 19.5 overs. Like Chase, Russell also bagged a three-for.

Shai Hope lights up Kensington Oval with a whirlwind knock

Shai Hope, who came into the playing XI in place of the injured Brandon King, enthralled the fans with a high-class batting display. He took the attack on the USA bowlers from the get-go and scored 51 out of the 67-run opening partnership with Johnson Charles, who was dismissed for a 14-ball 15.

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After Charles was dismissed in the seventh over by Harmeet, Nicholas Pooran joined forces with Hope and the experienced campaigners forged an unbeaten stand of 63 runs off just 23 balls to take the two-time champions to victory, with nine wickets and 55 balls to spare. Hope remained not out on 82 off just 39 balls, belting four fours and eight sixes. Meanwhile, Pooran finished unbeaten on 27 off 12 balls, hitting one four and three sixes.

Losing skipper Aaron Jones said:

I think maybe, we probably needed a score around 175-180 and we obviously finished under par. In the middle we lost wickets in clusters. That’s very important in T20 cricket and we never recovered from that. Obviously we tried to take a few quick wickets in the powerplay. England will be a good challenge and we are up for it.

Winning skipper Rovman Powell said:

It’s very special. Kensington brings very special memories for us. [On the bowling performance] I think [Chase] plays a critical role for us. He comes and tightens things. Credit has to be given to the boys, we set out to achieve our goals and we did. [On Hope] He’s been fantastic. He got an opportunity and was dropped due to combination but came back and performed. Shows the strength of the team.

POTM Roston Chase said:

[On his career-best figures] To do it at home is a great feeling, with my parents and my friends watching. It’s something we talked about in the team meeting that if we don’t get too many wickets in the powerplay, it’s on the spinners to come back and pull the game back and that’s what we did today. [On his catch to dismiss Steven Taylor] I love fielding at point, it gets me going. This is my favourite place to play cricket. I’m from Barbados so I grew up playing cricket here. [On the SA match] It’s our destiny and our goal to win the World Cup so anyone we play we have to beat from here to go win it.