Thu, Feb 19, ’26
by KRISSANIA YOUNG
Forde’s new-ball exploits back up Hope’s 75 as Windies win out in Group C
West Indies 165 for 5 (Hope 75, Rutherford 24*; Kalugamage 2-25) beat Italy 123 all out (Manenti 26, Smuts 24; Forde 3-19) by 42 runs
The West Indies finished atop Group C of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup with a perfect four wins from four following a 42-run victory over Italy at Eden Gardens on Thursday. A captain’s knock from Shai Hope propelled the Caribbean side to a defendable total ahead of a tone-setting new-ball spell from Matthew Forde.
West Indies lost the wickets of Brandon King and Shimron Hetmyer early in their innings. Ali Hasan ended King’s six-ball stay, continuing his sluggish tournament. The right-hander feathered an inside edge through to the keeper for 4 in the second over. Hetmyer (1) was then caught at short third off a flying edge to begin the 5th with West Indies 31 for 2. At the other end, Shai Hope had picked up where he left off against Nepal, timing the ball all around the ground.
He was joined by Roston Chase, and the two shared in a 64-run stand (50 balls) for the third wicket. Chase stuttered his way to 24 off 25 before he was caught in the deep trying to accelerate in the 13th, leaving the West Indies 95 for 3.
Chase’s wicket was the first of three the West Indies lost in a 17-ball period where they scored 20 runs, after Rovman Powell was dismissed for a run-a-ball 9, followed by Hope, who fell for an innings-shaping 46-ball 75.
After being 115 for 5 at the start of the 16th, the West Indies managed 50 runs from the final 29 balls of the innings, courtesy of unbeaten knocks from Sherfane Rutherford and Matthew Forde. Rutherford (24 from 15) and Forde (16 from 8) took 19 runs from Grant Stewart’s 19th over to help push the West Indies to 165 for 6 from their allotment.
Hope’s side snagged three early wickets to begin their defense, restricting Italy to 37 for 3 at the end of the powerplay. Forde shaved Justin Mosca’s off-stump for two in the 2nd over before Akeal Hosein responded to the two maximums off his bowling in the 3rd with the wicket of the other Anthony brother, Mosca, for 19. Forde (3/19) capped off the phase with the wicket of Syed Naqvi for 6.
The West Indies continued to pick up wickets at regular intervals, allowing just 64 runs (7.1 rpo) in the next nine overs. They snatched three additional scalps in the period to restrict Italy to 104 for 6 at the end of the 15th. The Caribbean side confirmed a convincing win in 18 overs, dismissing the European team for 123.
