The West Indies bowling and batting clicked very well in their second official World Cup Match. The Netherlands won the toss and the West Indies was sent in for first strike.
Chris Gayle and Devon Smith batted very well scoring over a century partnership. Gayle eventually went for 80 runs from 110 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes, Devon Smith was caught behind for 53 runs from 51 balls with 9 fours. Darren Bravo scored a quick 30, Ramneresh Sarwan 49 from 42 balls and the hard-hitting Kieron Pollard 69 from 27 balls with 5 fours and 4 sixes. The West Indies reached 330 runs for 8 wickets off 50 overs.
Positive Bowling
Kemar Roach and Sulieman Benn applied the pressure on the Netherlands with pace and spin respectively and after 10 overs they were 36 for 5 with their best batsman Ten Doeschate trapped leg before by Sulieman Benn for 7.
After 12 overs, the Netherlands were 39 for 5. Tom Cooper batting at number four for his team was 55 not out as Kemar Roach swept through the middle and lower order batting picking up 6 for 27 off 8.3 overs, which included an hattrick. Roach became the sixth bowler to gain a World Cup hattrick.
The Netherlands was bowled out for for 115 runs in 31.3 overs. Sulieman Benn picked up 3 for 28 from 8 overs, Kemar Roach 6 for 27 from 8 .3 overs, Darren Sammy 1 for 33 from 7 overs. Nikita Miller bowled 7 overs for 23 runs and Kieron Pollard one over for 2 runs.
Bigger Totals Needed
It is important that the West Indies batsmen on tour for the World Cup focus on scoring big totals.
World Cup cricket is very competitive and the chances of a team winning depends on how huge their totals are. The senior West Indies players particularly the batsmen Chris Gayle, Ramneresh Sarwan, and Devon Smith must occupy the crease and score heavily in the West Indies innings.
West Indies batsmen cannot allow themselves to be bogged down by any type of bowling in this World Cup as what occured when they played South Africa and lost.
The West Indies now has three specialist spinners on tour and hopefully they could create a positive impact in the bowling department. Guyanese leg spinner Devendra Bishoo is now with the West Indies squad in India because Dwayne Bravo got injured.
