West Indies kept their hopes of securing a quarterfinal berth in the World Cup alive as they recorded a six wicket win over a struggling United Arab Emirates team in their final Pool B tie at McLean Park in Napier on Sunday.
However, West Indies' progress to the knockout stages remains hanging on a thread as the match between Pakistan and Ireland takes place and the outcome of their match would eventually affect the standings in Pool B.
Put into bat first, the UAE suffered an early upset as their upper and middle order collapsed quickly, with their top six batsmen scoring in single digits each, and were reeling at 46-6 in the 13th over.
Amjad Javed and Nasir Aziz provided a much-needed 107-run seventh wicket stand to provide some defense against the West Indies bowling attack and help lift the team up to 153 runs in the 40th over, before the former fell prey to Andre Russell's express delivery on his individual 56 runs.
Aziz scored his individual 60 runs before going back to the pavilion. The only other UAE batsman to score in double digits was Mohammad Naveed as he hit his individual 14 runs, while the remaining batting line-up collapsed on single digits each.
The UAE set West Indies a 176-run target to win as they were bundled out for 175 runs in 47.4 overs.
Jason Holder was the pick of the bowlers for the West Indies as he claimed four wickets and also delivered a maiden over. Jerome Taylor scalped three wickets while Russell took two and Marlon Samuels claimed one wicket to decimate the UAE batting line-up.
West Indies were destructive with their bowling and reciprocated the same in their batting as they chased down the paltry 175 with 117 balls remaining while losing four wickets on their way.
Opener Dwayne Smith didn't shine with the bat as he was bowled out for his individual 15 runs. However, Johnson Charles and Jonathan Carter knocked half-centuries each to help West Indies chase down the target.
Charles hit his individual 55 runs off 40 balls before falling prey to Javed's delivery, while Carter remained unbeaten on his individual 50 runs. Andre Russell contributed seven runs with the bat, while Samuels scored his individual nine runs.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Ramdin remained unbeaten on 33 with Carter on 50 to guide West Indies to victory in the crucial tie.
Holder was named the Man of the Match for his antics with the ball as he claimed four wickets, conceding just 27 runs in his spell that also included a maiden over.
