Cloudy with a shower in spots: that's how the weather in Napier has been predicted for Sunday, a state that can also describe the situation the West Indies are in ahead of their final 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup Pool B game against the United Arab Emirates on Sunday. Outside the top four in the points table currently, a handsome victory over the team still searching for its first win in a World Cup will keep West Indies in the reckoning for a place in the quarter-finals.
It's only after registering a strong victory can they rely on the result between Pakistan and Ireland, the last group game of the World Cup, and hope that Pakistan do them a favour by beating the team who have put them in this situation in the first place.
While India and South Africa have already qualified for the knock-outs from group B, Pakistan, Ireland and West Indies are in a three-way battle to occupy the remaining two spots. Pakistan and Ireland both have six points apiece with the former having a slightly better net run rate. West Indies are placed below Ireland with four points, but their NRR is better than that of the William Porterfield-led side. In case West Indies win against UAE and Pakistan prevail against Ireland, both West Indies and Ireland will be tied with six points, but the Caribbean team will progress to the next round as they have a better NRR.
No surprises there, folks! Jason Holder wants to filed first. An obvious choice considering the overcast conditions. I seriously hope for the rain to stay away. This is a crucial fixture for the West Indies.
Holder: The preparation was excellent. We had a few days off. We have been here for a little while, so it's all about putting it together today. We are going to field first. Obviously looks a pretty good pitch. We want to get into the UAE batting line-up as quickly as possible. Everything went well in terms of the week's preparation. It is a must-win for us, we've to just come in and execute our plans. We've got one forced change. Unfortunately, Chris Gayle pulled up with a sore back this morning, so Johnson Charles gets his first game. If you look at a replacement for Chris, I think Johnson is ideally fitted for it. He's one attacking batsman, so we just wish him well today.
Tauqir: We are very happy, it has been a very enjoyable and learning experience. We were happy that there were some notable performances from our boys also. We would have liked to have bowled first as well, but now we have no choice and we need to bat and bat well today. We have played some good games in this tournament and we would like to end on a high today. We've got two changes, we've got Nasir (Aziz) in and Manjula (Guruge) coming back.
Teams:
United Arab Emirates: Amjad Ali, Andri Berenger, Krishnachandran Karate, Khurram Khan, Shaiman Anwar, Swapnil Patil(w), Amjad Javed, Mohammad Naveed, Mohammad Tauqir(c), Nasir Aziz, Manjula Guruge
West Indies: Dwayne Smith, Johnson Charles, Marlon Samuels, Jonathan Carter, Denesh Ramdin(w), Lendl Simmons, Darren Sammy, Andre Russell, Jason Holder(c), Jerome Taylor, Kemar Roach
vWI
win against in 36.2 overs or fewer must win against to qualify for the Quarter Finals. vWI vPak
Jason Holder: The ball came out really well for me at the start, also got some good bounce. Just concentrated on bowling in the right areas. It was a bit slow, but I was happy to get some movement. Extremely pleased with how the games came out to play. It was a must-win and we were able to accomplish it. We had to show the intent and try to finish the game before 36 overs, which we were able to achieve. NZ are obviously playing some very good cricket, so we will look ahead to that if we are able to make it to the quarter-finals.
Mohammad Tauqir: When they put us in to bat, they took good advantage of the bowling conditions. 40-odd for 6 was tough to recover from, but Nasir and Amjad batted well in the end. Amjad has been very consistent for us throughout the tournament, both with the bat and ball. So some positives from this World Cup. We have the T20 World Cup qualification ahead of us in July. It was a decent performance from us in this tournament. It was a good learning experience for us. It was very enjoyable, but there was a lot of traveling to do.
And Denesh Ramdin's heave towards midwicket gives West Indies the game. The 176-run target required them 30.3 overs. They've now leapfrogged Pakistan in terms of net run rate and and a win for either Pakistan or Ireland seals West Indies a place in the quarter-finals. Their performance however, wasn't the mos impressive but a win is a win. The lost ground after a perfect start earlier in the day and even in the chase, they have been quite pedantic towards the end.
Johnson Charles (55), Jonathan Carter (58*) and Ramdin (33*) were instrumental in this middling chase. Holder has a big smile on his face as Sammy is seen embracing him in the dressing room. The equation is simple now for the West Indies. They have to hope that the game between Pakistan and Ireland doesn't end in a tie.
Jason Holder has been named Man of the Match for his 4 for 27.
