Skipper Shimron Hetmyer and Tevin Imlach hit half-centuries as the West Indies upset Pakistan by five wickets to cruise into the semi-finals of the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup here today.
Hetmyer scored 52 and Imlach made 54 to ensure a gallant 113 by Umaid Masood went in vain as the West Indies surpassed Pakistan’s 227 for six with 10 overs to spare.
The West Indies takes on host Bangladesh in the second semi-final in Mirpur on Thursday. India plays Sri Lanka in the first semi-final at the same venue tomorrow.
Pakistan’s defeat prevented an all-Asian semi-final despite Umaid’s Man of the Match-winning performance, but the West Indies played better all-round cricket to emerge a deserved winner.
Umaid came to the crease in the 15th over with Pakistan struggling at 40 for four and rebuilt the innings in the company of Salman Fayyaz after half the side was back in the hut by the 21st over.
Umaid, who had scored 13 not out and 10 in previous matches, hit 15 boundaries and two sixes before he was out in the final over. Salman remained unbeaten on a defiant half-century, which included three hits to the fence and a six.
The revival came after a two-wicket burst by seamer Chemar Holder and fiery fast bowling by Alzarri Joseph, who conceded just 28 runs in his 10 overs.
Once Joseph’s spell finished in the 36th over, Pakistan added 109 runs to set the West Indies a challenging target.
The Caribbean flair was evident as the West Indies raced to 100 for one by the 16th over. Hetmyer and Imlach put on 77 for the second wicket to take the score to 122 for one, before two needless run outs saw the total slip to 147 for four.
Shamar Springer was the fifth batsman to fall for 37 when 38 runs were still needed for victory, but Jyd Goolie (26 not out) and Keemo Paul (24 not out) saw their side home.
“This is a wonderful result for us,” said Hetmyer. “It feels good to be through to the semi-finals. We just stuck to our plans and executed what we had worked on at practice. It was probably a good toss to lose because our bowlers did very well to take those early wickets.”
Pakistan’s captain Zeeshan Malik congratulated the West Indies, but felt his team should have defended its score. “Our plan had been to get around 235 because we had the bowlers who were capable of defending it,” he said. “I thought we put up a good score despite the poor start. But I must give credit to the West Indies batsmen for playing so aggressively and chasing down the target.”
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