LEEDS: West Indies won the battle of the World Cup’s basement dwellers, beating Afghanistan by 23 runs in their final group match at Headingley. Chris Gayle managed only seven runs in his final World Cup appearance but Shai Hope capitalised on an early reprieve to score 77 and help the eliminated Caribbean side to 311/6 after electing to bat. While Gayle disappointed, 18-year-old Ikram Alikhil top-scored for Afghanistan with a career-best 86 before falling to the 39-year-old part-time spinner from Jamaica. Afghanistan were all out for 288 in exactly 50 overs — their highest score in the World Cup — to finish their campaign with nine defeats in as many matches, denying their West Indian coach Phil Simmons a winning send-off. The match against the tournament’s weakest side was an opportunity for Gayle to produce a special performance but the prolific left-handed opener failed to take it. — Reuters
Scoreboard
Match #42 July 4: West Indies vs Afghanistan
Toss: West Indies (Batting)
Man of the Match: Shai Hope
West Indies
Runs Balls 4 6
- C Gayle c Alikhil b Dawlat 7 18 1 0
- E Lewis c Nabi b Rashid 58 78 6 2
- S Hope c Rashid b Nabi 77 92 6 2
- S Hetmyer c Noor Ali b Dawlat 39 31 3 2
- N Pooran run out 58 43 6 1
- J Holder c Dawlat b Shirzad 45 34 1 4
- C Brathwaite not out 14 4 2 1
- F Allen not out 0 0 0 0
Extras: (lb 4, w 9) 13
Total: (6 wickets; 50 overs) 311
FOW: 1-21, 2-109, 3-174, 4-192, 5-297, 6-297Bowling O M R W
- Mujeeb Ur Rahman 10 0 52 0
- Dawlat Zadran 9 1 73 2
- Sayed Shirzad 8 0 56 1
- Gulbadin Naib 3 0 18 0
- Mohammad Nabi 10 0 56 1
- Rashid Khan 10 0 52 1
Afghanistan
Runs Balls 4 6
- G Naib c Lewis b Roach 5 6 1 0
- R Shah c Gayle b Brathwaite 62 78 10 0
- I Alikhil lbw b Gayle 86 93 8 0
- N Zadran run out 31 38 1 1
- A Afghan c Holder b Brathwaite 40 32 4 1
- M Nabi c Allen b Roach 2 6 0 0
- S Shinwari c Hetmyer b Roach 6 9 0 0
- R Khan c Holder b Brathwaite 9 16 0 1
- D Zadran c Cottrell b Brathwaite 1 2 0 0
- S Shirzad c Allen b Thomas 25 17 2 2
- M Ur Rahman not out 7 5 1 0
- Extras: (lb 2, nb 2, w 10) 14
Total: (All out; 50 overs) 288
FOW: 1-5, 2-138, 3-189, 4-194, 5-201, 6-227, 7-244, 8-255, 9-260, 10-288
Bowling O M R W
- Sheldon Cottrell 7 0 43 0
- Keemar Roach 10 2 37 3
- Oshane Thomas 7 0 43 1
- Jason Holder 8 0 46 0
- Fabian Allen 3 0 26 0
- Carlos Brathwaite 9 0 63 4
- Chris Gayle 6 0 28 1.
