T20 World Cup: How West Indies’ world-class spin trio set up big win against USA

West Indies’ three-pronged spin attack is not like your usual T20 trifecta.

Typically, when that many spinners feature in the XI, chances are one of them would be a wristie. But in Akeal Hosein, Gudakesh Motie and Roston Chase, the Windies have a trio that complement each other. They even prompted Indian ace Ashwin Ravichandran to tweet recently, “This West Indian three finger spinner attack showing how a good pack should hunt, top class.”

On Saturday in Barbados, the spinners broke the USA batting effort (even though the scoreboard would tell you pacers accounted for five wickets) to set up the match for the hosts. Shai Hope then smashed it out of the park at his home ground, as WI chased down 129 with 9.1 overs to spare. West Indies would have been out of the tournament had they lost but a rocking Kensington Oval witnessed a clinical win that gave WI a significant Net Run Rate boost and kept destiny in their own hands.

After electing to bowl first, the first breakthrough came from Andre Russell but USA took the attack back to the hosts. Nitish Kumar and Andries Gous looked in fine touch as USA, for a brief while, had the home crowd worried. While Hosein kept things tight in the powerplay, the critical wicket came when Nitish premeditated a reverse sweep to a full ball from Motie and was trapped in front.

USA perhaps thought they’d have to go after Roston Chase, and that’s where the accuracy of the offspinner shines through. He accounted for the big wicket of Aaron Jones, who perished playing the shot that has fetched him a lot of success – the slog sweep. He followed that up with Corey Anderson and Harmeet Singh’s wickets off consecutive deliveries.

On commentary during West Indies’ bowling innings, world champion spinner Samuel Badree pointed out how Hosein and Motie, despite being Slow Left Arm spinners, have their own unique characteristics. They operate in different phases of the innings. Motie’s release point is slightly lower, while Hosein has a higher release and uses angles brilliantly for his arm balls. It’s the equivalent of having two left-handers open the innings in David Warner and Travis Head, who have the ability to access different parts of the ground.

“We know that in West Indies conditions, whether the wickets are good or the wickets are bad, they’re going to be handful because they’re world-class,” captain Rovman Powell had said of his spin attack.
“We start with Akeal Hosain, his strength is predominantly in the power play and while he does such good work in the power play, right as we come out the power play is Gudakesh Motie’s time. It’s Akeal passing the baton on to Motie. When we sat down as a selection group and picked the World Cup team, we picked both of them knowing the role that they will play on these wickets.”

Taking the game away! 🔥#ShaiHope continues his aggressive strokeplay to find consecutive SIXES after his fifty! 😍🙌🏻

𝐒𝐔𝐏𝐄𝐑 𝟖 – World Cup ka Super Stage 👉 #USAvWI | LIVE NOW | #T20WorldCupOnStar pic.twitter.com/d3yu7NuJC8

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) June 22, 2024

Hope kills chase

WI then knew that they had to win big, to make sure they don’t have to worry about margins and such when they take on South Africa next. Fresh from the heavy defeat at the hands of England, they turned the heat on USA’s bowlers from the word go and it was Shai Hope who did serious damage. In and out of the XI based on combinations, Brandon King’s injury had given Hope the chance at the top of the order, and he wasn’t going to waste it in his home ground.

Hope hit the ground running, A six over extra cover in the 6th over was the highlight of his innings, hit so flat and brilliantly timed. It flew just 15m above the turf and carried 77m beyond the rope. And then in the 7th over, he got to a 26-ball 50 with another inside-out six, this time off Harmeet, against the turn. A hat-trick of sixes against Milind in the 9th over signalled his intent to finish this off as quickly as possible and fittingly he did so with a maximum in the 11th over. A 39-ball 82 for a batter who, not so long ago, was seen as a longer format specialist.

“I’m from Barbados so playing in front of this lovely crowd meant a lot more to me. Scoring some runs and winning the game for the team felt even more special so I’m very happy to do that,” Hope said later.

Now, Hope and Windies take on an unbeaten South Africa who, despite winning all their matches, have no margin for error.

“We always talk about rallying around the West Indies. That’s exactly what we need to keep doing. The team rallying around each other,” Hope said. If they do, they might just be in with a shot to return to Barbados on 29th June.

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