King century, Shepherd hand West Indies first Super Six win

West Indies 222 for 3 (King 100, Hope 63*) beat Oman 221 for 9 (Suraj 53, Shoaib 50, Shepherd 3-44) by seven wickets

Harare: Half-centuries from Shoaib Khan and Suraj Kumar helped Oman to 221/9 against West Indies, but Brandon King's composed hundred led West Indies to their first win in the Super Six clash in Harare.

Brandon King made his first hundred in the tournament to lead West Indies to a consolation win in the Super Six clash against Oman in the 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier.

The opener built partnerships with Keacy Carty and skipper Shai Hope to ease the West Indies's run-chase of 222.

Kaleemullah had given Oman a good start with the ball by cleaning up Johnson Charles with a superb delivery, beating him for pace in the second over.

Carty was run out by Sandeep Goud after he and King put on 80 for the second wicket, but any hope of an Oman comeback was thwarted by the stable Hope.

King and Hope negated Oman's attack with ease, getting the West Indies close to the target. While King fell soon after his hundred, Hope and Nicholas Pooran ensured there were no further hiccups.

Hope remained unbeaten on 63 and Pooran on 19 as West Indies went on to register their first win in the Super Six stage.

Earlier, Hope won the toss for the West Indies and unsurprisingly elected to bowl in the Super Six encounter that has no effect on the qualification to the main event. Kyle Mayers and Romario Shepherd took the new ball and the duo struck early, dismissing Jatinder Singh and skipper Aqib Ilyas, inside the Powerplay.

Ayaan Khan and the impressive Kashyap Prajapati rebuilt for Oman, but the latter was run out by Roston Chase just as the stand was gaining momentum.

The run-outs kept hurting Oman through the innings with three of their batters, including Shoaib Khan, who made a fighting half-century, falling prey to it.

But Oman managed to recover from 116/6 thanks to Shoaib and wicketkeeper Suraj Kumar. The duo took Oman past 200 with an 85-run partnership that was broken when Shoaib was run out by Akeal Hosein.

Kumar continued to pile on the runs with the tail and completed his half-century off the final ball of the innings as Oman finished on 221/9 in a decent batting effort.

Shepherd was the pick of West Indies' bowlers, taking 3/44 in his 10 overs. Mayers was economical in his seven overs, taking 2/31 while spinners Chase (0/36), Kevin Sinclair (1/42) and Hosein (0/48) kept their ends tight.