West Indies secured a nerve-wracking five-wicket victory over Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the inaugural match of cricket's Twenty20 World Cup, held in the Caribbean on Sunday.
On Saturday, co-host USA captured a seven-wicket win against Canada in their opener at Grand Prairie, Texas.
Despite the PNG spinners aiming to restrict West Indies' power hitters, the hosts reached their victory target of 137-5 with an over to spare.
Sese Bau made headlines as the second PNG batter to score a half-century at a T20 World Cup, contributing 50 runs to lift his team to 136-8 from 20 overs. This performance came after West Indies captain Rovman Powell won the toss and opted to field on a spin-friendly pitch.
\"Credit has to be given to PNG, their plans were simple and they played good cricket,\" Powell commented.
PNG posed a strong challenge by not allowing West Indies to sail to victory, bringing the hosts under pressure at 97-5 after 16 overs. However, Roston Chase's unbeaten 42 off 27 balls steered West Indies to a decisive win.
Reference(s):
West Indies open cricket's T20 World Cup with over Papua New Guinea
cgtn.com