Windies seal place in Super Eight
Lara clinched the game with a mammoth six
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Monday, 19, Mar 2007 10:15
West Indies have clinched their place in the Super Eight stage of the World Cup after a nervy six-wicket win over Zimbabwe in Jamaica.
After winning the toss, the World Cup hosts put their opponents into bat and restricted them to 202-5 from their 50 overs.
Sean Williams hit an unbeaten 70 for Zimbabwe while Brendon Taylor reached 50.
Jerome Taylor finished with bowling figures of 2-42 while Dwayne Smith and Daren Powell took one wicket each.
In reply, the Windies passed their target with 13 balls to spare thanks to solid contributions from Chris Gayle (40) along with Brian Lara (44) and Dwayne Bravo (37), who saw the side home.
The minnows made a disastrous start and were 31-3 with Powell and Taylor clean-bowling the top three batsman.
Taylor then steadied the ship after grinding out a half-century from 121 balls before being run out.
Williams fired seven boundaries in his unbeaten knock while Elton Chigumbura made 30 not out to frustrate the Windies and post a modest total.
The Windies made a steady start with Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (21) putting on 79 for the first wicket.
The hosts then lost three wickets for 56 runs to leave them on 129-4 to set-up a tense finish.
But skipper Lara and all-rounder Bravo guided the Windies home, although both rode their luck at times.
Bravo, who struck three fours and two sixes, was dropped on 32 while Lara was also given a life on 28 before finishing the game off with a huge six.
The pressure is off the Windies in their final group game against Ireland on Friday, although a win for either side will see them through as group winners. Zimbabwe must beat Pakistan on Wednesday to have a chance of qualifying from the group.