West Indies beat Afghanistan by 47 runs, confirm series win

Lucknow, Nov10 West Indies won their second ODI against Afghanistan by 47 runs to take an unassailable 2-0 win in the three-match series being played between the two sides at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.

Chasing a target of 248, Afghanistan were all out for 200 with Sheldon Cottrell, Roston Chase and Hayden Walsh taking three wickets each.

Afghanistan looked to be on track with a 53-run second wicket partnership between Rahmat Shah and Hazratullah Zazai. Afghanistan's run rate then went down to snail's pace as Chase then took three wickets to run through their middle order. The next major stand was for the sixth wicket with Mohammad Nabi and Najibullah Zadran putting up 68 runs.

Zadran scored 56 but there was hardly any fight from Afghanistan after his dismissal. Sharafuddin Ashraf was the last wicket to fall with the West Indies wrapping things up in the 46th over.

Earlier, West Indies got a good start with a 98-run opening stand between Shai Hope and Evin Lewis. However, their middle order collapsed and the visitors went from 98/0 to 182/6 in the space of just under 20 overs. Nicholas Pooran then bailed them out with a counter-attacking knock that saw him put up a 50-run stand with Romario Shepherd. Shepherd scored just six runs in his innings while Pooran scored 67 off 50 balls to take West Indies close to 250.

West Indies had previously won the first ODI that was held on Wednesday by seven wickets which means that they have now confirmed victory in the three-match series. The third ODI will be played on November 11 and this will be followed by a three-match T20I series in Lucknow. They will then remain in the country for a limited overs series against India that will consist of three T20Is and as many ODIs.

Brief scores: West Indies 247/9 (Nicholas Pooran 67, Evin Lewis 54; Naveen-ul-Haq 3/60), Afghanistan 200 (Najibullah Zadran 56, Rahmat Shah 33; Sheldon Cottrell 3/29)