An eventful match took place between ICC World XI and West Indies at Lord’s on Thursday (May 31). While it saw former Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi make a brief return to the international stage, Sam Billings also earned his international debut through this match. However, one thing was common for both of them and that is, both were in the same team that was at the receiving end of a 72-run thrashing.

Being sent to bat first, West Indies were off to flying start, thanks to a magnificent fifty from Evin Lewis. It took him only 26 deliveries to register 58 runs whereas Chris Gayle never managed to come out of his shell and posted only 18 runs off 28 balls.

West Indies went through a brief collapse as the openers’ departure was followed by Andre Fletcher’s dismissal. But Marlon Samuels and Dinesh Ramsin restored the Windies innings by stitching a partnership and Andre Russell then gave a great finishing touch with an unbeaten cameo of 21 from 10 deliveries.

Rashid Khan tried to weather the storm for the World XI team and was able to remove Lewis and Samuels, but got smashed for 48 off 4 overs in return.

Samuels clubbed 43 runs and Ramdin was not out on 45 as West Indies posed a daunting total of 199/4 against the World XI side. Shoaib Malik and Shaid Afridi also picked up a wicket each and the latter was just another strike short of being the first-ever bowler to have bagged 100 T20I wickets.

West Indies then showcased their dominance in the next innings as well and got the World XI all out with 20 balls remaining. Kesrick Williams scalped 3 wickets while Samuel Badree and Andre Russell took two wickets apiece. Keemo Paul also joined the hunt along with West Indies skipper Carlos Brathwaite as both of them got a wicket each.

Other than Thisara Perera’s heroic efforts in the middle, no batsmen in the World XI side were good enough to handle the wrath of the Caribbean bowlers. 61 of their 127 runs came from Perera’s bat while only three other batsmen from his side were able to enter the double-digits with none of them scoring in excess of 12 runs.

This match was organized to raise funds to rebuild and restore five major venues in the Caribbean islands that were damaged by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. The venues include Ronald Webster Park in Anguilla, the Sir Viv Richards Stadium in Antigua, the Windsor Park Stadium in Dominica, the A.O. Shirley Recreation Ground in the British Virgin Islands and the Carib Lumber Ball Park in St. Maarten.

 

Windies (Playing XI): Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Andre Fletcher, Marlon Samuels, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite (c), Keemo Paul, Ashley Nurse, Samuel Badree, Kesrick Williams

World XI (Playing XI): Luke Ronchi (wk), Tamim Iqbal, Sam Billings, Dinesh Karthik, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi (c), Thisara Perera, Rashid Khan, Mitchell McClenaghan, Sandeep Lamichhane, Tymal Mills