CWC Qualifiers 2023: West Indies and Zimbabwe start with a win, three centuries on the first day of the tournament

West Indies and Zimbabwe won against USA and Nepal respectively in World Cup qualifiers on Sunday (June 18). With this win in Group A, both the teams have got two points each. Four players scored half-centuries for the West Indies, who won the World Cup twice. At the same time, Sean Williamson and Craig Irvine played century innings for Zimbabwe. At the same time, Gajanan Singh of America also scored a hundred.

Talking about the first match, Zimbabwe captain Craig Irvine won the toss and decided to bowl. Nepal made a big score of 290 runs for eight wickets in 50 overs. For him, Kushal Bhurtal played an inning of 99 runs. Wicketkeeper Asif Sheikh scored 66, Kushal Malla scored 41 and captain Rohit Paudel scored 31 runs. For Zimbabwe, Richard Ngarwa took the maximum of four wickets.

Irvine and Williamson's century
Chasing the target of 291 runs, Zimbabwe batted brilliantly. He won the match by scoring 291 runs for two wickets in 44.1 overs. For him, captain Craig Irvine scored the most unbeaten 121 runs. Sean Williams scored an unbeaten 102 off 70 balls. He became the fastest batsman to score a century for Zimbabwe in ODIs. Wesley Madhevere scored 32 and Joylord Gumby scored 25 runs for the team.

Windies batsmen showed strength
Talking about the second match, America won the toss and decided to bowl. Four West Indies batsmen scored half-centuries. He scored 297 runs in 49.3 overs. Johnson Charles scored the highest innings of 66 runs. Jason Holder scored 56, Roston Chase scored 55 and captain Shai Hope scored 54 runs. Nicholas Pooran played a useful inning of 43 runs. Kyle Phillip and Saurabh Netrawalkar took three wickets each for the US.

Gajanan's Century in vain
Chasing a target of 298 runs, America put up a good fight but could not win the match. Gajanan Singh played an unbeaten inning of 101 runs for America. He did not get support from anyone at the other end. S Jahangir scored 39 and Saurabh scored 34 not out. Kyle Meyers and Alzarri Joseph took two wickets each for the West Indies. Jason Holder and Roston Chase got one success each.

(pc amarujala)