UAE vs WI: Athanaze, Sinclair aid West Indies to clean sweep UAE

SHARJAH: Kevin Sinclair returned with astonishing figures of 4/24 to book UAE on a modest total before Alick Athanaze’s blistering half-century propelled West Indies to a comfortable four-wicket victory and sweep the UAE vs WI ODI series.

Set to chase 185, the West Indies comfortably chased down the total in the 36th over for the loss of six wickets at the back of a record half-century by their debutant opener Alick Athanaze.

The young left-handed batter gave West Indies a flying start despite Johnson Charles (3) perishing cheaply in the third over.

Despite the early setback for the visitors, Athanaze kept on dominating the hapless UAE bowlers and etched his name into the record books by smashing the joint-fastest ODI half-century by a debutant before finally perishing in the 15th over.

Athanaze struck nine boundaries and three sixes on his way to top score for the West Indies with a 45-ball 65.

Shamarh Brooks then put on a crucial third-wicket partnership with Keacy Carty and retained West Indies’ domination until Aayan Afzal Khan got rid of the latter. He scored 39 off 58 with the help of two boundaries.

His dismissal triggered a minor collapse amid the West Indies batting expedition as the touring side lost wickets at regular intervals in the 185-run pursuit with Carty (20) and Kavem Hodge (0) perishing in quick succession.

After West Indies slipped to 145/5, skipper Roston Chase stitched an important 26-run partnership with Raymon Reifer until the latter fell when his side needed just four more runs.

Keemo Paul then joined Chase in the middle and made sure that there were no further hiccups for the West Indies in the run chase.

Chase remained the notable run-getter for his side with a steady 32-ball 27 and hit a boundary.

For the UAE, Aayan Afzal Khan, Karthik Meiyappan and Muhammad Jawadullah bagged two wickets each.

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After opting to bat first in the final UAE vs WI ODI, the hosts could only rack up 184 runs on the scoreboard despite a solid second-wicket partnership between skipper Muhammad Waseem and Vriitya Aravind.

The duo of Muhammad Waseem and Vriitya Aravind stitched a brilliant 69-run partnership and recovered their side from the early setback after opener Lovepreet Singh (3) fell in the third over.

Waseem and Aravind frustrated West Indian bowlers amid their stand and looked in position to take the game away from the West Indies before Raymon Reifer castled the former to draw a major breakthrough for the visitors.

Waseem fell just eight short of what could have been a blistering half-century and could score 42 off just 34 deliveries with the help of five boundaries and two sixes.

Aravind then put on another important partnership for UAE as he, alongside Rameez Shahzad, added 35 runs to the total.

Kevin Sinclair struck for the West Indies to bring an end to the budding partnership as he removed Shahzad caught and bowled. The right-handed batter scored 27 from 40 deliveries, hitting a boundary and two sixes.

Shahzad’s dismissal triggered a collapse in the UAE’s batting lineup and the hosts kept losing wickets at an alarming rate which saw them slipping from 142/2 to 166/6 with Aravind also walking back.

He top-scored for the UAE with a 75-ball 70 which featured eight boundaries and a six.

West Indies bowlers carried on their momentum and kept taking wickets before finally booking the UAE on a meagre total of 184.

Kevin Sinclair led the West Indies’ dominant bowling charge with four wickets, followed by Yannic Cariah, who claimed two.

Keemo Paul and Raymon Reifer, on the other hand, made one scalp each.

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