A djectives such as breathtaking, dazzling, marvellous, spectacular, stunning and superb easily came to mind to describe the batting of Shai Hope in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup on Friday night. The 30-year-old Barbadian cracked a boundary-studded, unbeaten 82 off 39 balls to lead the Caribbean side to a crucial nine-wicket win against their fellow tournament co-hosts, USA, at the iconic Kensington Oval. Hope used the green grass of home and opportunity given to him to open the batting for West Indies in this Group 2 match of the Super 8 because of the side strain that ended the tournament for Brandon King, to unleash a volley of strokes that threw a near capacity crowd – which included Prime Minister Mia Mottley and West Indies icons Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Wes Hall and Sir Clive Lloyd – into sheer delirium.
After a disappointing loss in their first Super 8 match against England on Wednesday at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in Saint Lucia, where South Africa had earlier in the day put a dent in the ol’ enemy’s hopes of cruising into the final four, a win was essential to keep West Indies in the mix. Roston Chase, another beloved cricketing son of the Barbadian soil, put the home team on the right track with a disruptive spell that undermined the batting of the Americans and sent them crashing for 128 all out in 19.5 overs after they were put in to bat.
Chase ended with three for 19 from his allotted four overs and earned the Player-of-the-Match award, but Hope had.
