King and Reifer hand West Indies warm-up win

A polished half-century from Brandon King and an incisive spell of bowling from Raymon Reifer lifted two-time champions West Indies to a comfortable win over the United Arab Emirates in their first warm-up match of the ICC T20 World Cup.

The stylish King led the batting with 64 off 45 balls with seven boundaries and two sixes as West indies posted 152-9 off their 20 overs at the Junction Oval in Melbourne on Monday.

Skipper Nicholas Pooran also looked in good touch as he struck five towering sixes in a knock of 46 off 31 balls. They added 95 for the fourth wickets in 10 overs, to rebuild the innings after it slipped to 22-3 in the fifth over. New ball bowler Junaid Siddique was excellent with figures of 5-14 off his five overs.

There was a moment of worry in the West Indies camp when left-hander Yannic Cariah was struck on the right hand by a rising delivery from Siddique. He was taken to a local medical facility for X-Rays which revealed bruising but no fracture.

With a required rate of 7.5 per over, UAE batted steadily until Reifer was introduced into the attack and got the ball to swing both ways with his left-arm medium pace. He took three wickets in the space of 11 balls as UAE innings went into rapid decline. They from 52-1 to 66-5 as Reifer ended with 4-0-17-3. In between there was brilliant run out by Evin Lewis with a direct throw from cover to highlight an outstanding fielding display.

West Indies will remain in Melbourne where they will have their second warm-up match against the Netherlands on Wednesday night at the MCG. First ball is 7pm (4am EasternCaribbean/3am Jamaica). From there West Indies travel to Hobart, Tasmania for Group B of the tournament where they will face Scotland, Zimbabwe and Ireland.

ICC MEN’s T20 WORLD CUP 2022, Australia

Round 1 - Groups

Group A: Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, and Namibia
Group B: Scotland, West Indies, Zimbabwe, and Ireland

(Top two teams from each group advance to Super 12s)

Round 1 - Match Schedule (all played at Bellerive Oval, Hobart).

October 17: West Indies v Scotland – 3pm (12 midnight Eastern Caribbean/11pm Jamaica on October 16)

October 19: West Indies v Zimbabwe – 7pm (4am EasternCaribbean/3am Jamaica)

October 21: West Indies v Ireland – 3pm (12 midnight Eastern Caribbean/11pm Jamaica on October 20)

Super 12s

Group 1: England, Australia, New Zealand, Afghanistan, A1 and B2.

Group 2: India, Pakistan, Pakistan, South Africa, A2 and B1.

(Top two teams from each group advance to the semi-finals)

SEMI-FINALS

November 9:  SCG, Sydney

November 10: Adelaide Oval, Adelaide

FINAL: November 13: MCG, Melbourne