NOTTINGHAM, England – West Indies wicket-keeper Shai Hope spoke to members of the media after the team’s second match in the ICC Cricket World Cup at Trent Bridge. In a very close contest, West Indies were led by their bowlers who dismissed the Aussies for 288 off 49 overs. In their turn at the crease, West Indies ended on 273-9 off their 50 overs – just 15 runs short of victory.
Hope held four catches – the second match in a row – and then made a high-quality half century as West Indies came close to their second win of the tournament. He topscored with 68 off 105 balls with seven boundaries. Hope has now moved his tally this year to 664 runs (average 60). Overall in his career he now has 2,326 runs at an average of over 50 and strike rate of over 75 in 56 matches. The 25-year-old added 68 for the third wicket with left-hander Nicholas Pooran, who made 40 off 36 balls to follow up his 34 not out off 19 balls against Pakistan. The 23-year-old hit five boundaries and a six and played some eye-catching strokes all around the ground against both short and full length deliveries.
West Indies now have a 1-1 record in the tournament and are fourth in the points standings – following the impressive victory by seven wickets against Pakistan in the opening match last Friday. They now travel to Southampton to prepare for their third match against South Africa on Monday at the Hampshire Bowl.
Follow West Indies: www.windiescricket.com
Follow The Tournament: https://www.cricketworldcup.com
Coverage will be LIVE on ESPN and ESPN2 in the Caribbean. ESPN Play – ESPN’s multiscreen live and on-demand broadband service – will stream all the matches.
Summarised match scores: Australia 288 off 49 overs (Nathan Coulter-Nile 92, Steve Smith 73, Alex Carey 45; Carlos Brathwaite 3-67) West Indies 273-9 off 50 overs (Shai Hope 68, Jason Holder 51, Nicholas Pooran 40, Chris Gayle 21; Mitchell Starc 5-46)
Hope spoke about his brilliant one-handed catch to dismiss Usman Khawaja off Andre Russell, and an even more amazing running effort by Sheldon Cottrell on the deep midwicket boundary to end Steve Smith’s innings.
“For mine, it was just one of those things. I just had to go. I didn’t really have much time to think. Andre bowled a pretty decent delivery and I just saw the white thing and tried to catch it. Cottrell’s was easily the better catch, that was an amazing effort. At first I wasn’t sure if he had it but then I realised it was a proper catch,” Hope said.
FULL SQUAD
Jason Holder (Captain)
Chris Gayle (Vice Captain)
Fabian Allen
Carlos Brathwaite
Darren Bravo
Sheldon Cottrell
Shannon Gabriel
Shimron Hetmyer
Shai Hope
Evin Lewis
Ashley Nurse
Nicholas Pooran
Kemar Roach
Andre Russell
Oshane Thomas
MATCH SCHEDULE (First ball is 5:30am Eastern Caribbean/4:30am Jamaica; unless otherwise stated)
Friday, May 31: vs Pakistan at Trent Bridge, Nottingham
West Indies won by 7 wickets; Match Details: https://bit.ly/31emdPM
Thursday, June 6: vs Australia at Trent Bridge, Nottingham
Australia won by 15 runs; Match Details: https://bit.ly/2QSdU7v
Monday, June 10: vs South Africa at Hampshire Bowl, Southampton
Friday, June 14: vs England at Hampshire Bowl, Southampton
Monday, June 17: vs Bangladesh at the County Ground, Taunton
Saturday, June 22: vs New Zealand at Old Trafford, Manchester (8:30am EC Time/7:30am Jamaica)
Thursday, June 27: vs India at Old Trafford, Manchester
Monday, July 1: vs Sri Lanka – at the Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street
Thursday, July 4: vs Afghanistan at Headingley, Leeds
Semi-Finals
Tuesday, July 9: 1st vs 4th at Old Trafford, Manchester
Thursday, July 11: 2nd vs 3rd at Edgbaston, Birmingham
The Final
Sunday, July 14: Semi-final Winner 1 vs Semi-final Winner 2 at Lord’s
July 15: Reserve Day
-CWI
