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West Indies 173 for 5 (Charles 44, Russell 30*, Masaba 2-31) beat Uganda 39 (Miyagi 13*, Hosein 5-11, Joseph 2-6) by 134 runs
Uganda were doughty with the ball and, despite at least two missed chances, generally good in the field. Though several West Indies batters made starts, Uganda’s slow bowlers, in particular, found ways to peg them back.
Hosein wrecks Uganda’s top order
It was a spell of dreams. From the outset, it was clear that when Hosein chose to put revs into the ball, he would get good turn the first ball – a left-arm spinner’s stock ball – ragging past Roger Mukasa’s outside edge.
But it was Hosein’s mastery of drift/swing and his impeccable control that gave him the most venom in this game. The next ball to Mukasa was a seam-up ball that curved in and struck the sweeping batter in front of middle and off. Next over, the ball that struck Alpesh Ramjani in front of middle had also moved in the air, late.
Riazat Ali Shah, perhaps Uganda’s best batter, was beaten even more emphatically by the swinging seam-up ball, watching it crash into middle stump.
Then in his last over – the seventh of the innings – Hosein dismissed Dinesh Nakrani and Kenneth Waiswa, the first bowled and the second another lbw, again using movement in the air before pitching. He left Uganda flailing at 23 for 7, all their batting resources spent, and with little hope of even surpassing the 58 they had made against Afghanistan last week – their previous lowest score.
Charles steadies West Indies in the early going
It’s not often you would describe a Charles innings as an anchor, but this is effectively what it was in this game. Though he struck some early fours through cover before working himself up to some six-hitting, he still only had 24 off 21 balls at the end of the powerplay.
Russell and Rutherford finish strong
It says something about the nature of this surface, and also the tenacity of Uganda’s bowling, that West Indies did not manage a six after the 14th over. But Russell and Sherfane Rutherford still found ways to provide West Indies with that final burst. Russell did this most effectively in the final over, when he blasted Cosmas Kyewuta for two fours through point, then later found another couple of boundaries off the outside edge.
All up, West Indies made 45 off the last four overs.
Andrew Fidel Fernando is a senior writer at ESPNcricinfo. @afidelf
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