Unbeaten Pakistan eye WI scalp in MCW Global Cup

KARACHI: Unbeaten Pakistan will lock horns with West Indies in the fourth round of the inaugural MCW Over 40 Cricket Global Cup 2023 here at the National Stadium on Sunday (today).

In the three other matches of the fourth round, Australia will be taking on Hong Kong at NBP Sports Complex, United Arab Emirates (UAE) will face United States of America (USA) at Moin Khan Academy and Canada will be pitted against Nepal at Southend Club.

Pakistan currently find themselves on top of the tree with six points from three matches while Hong Kong is placed second with five points. West Indies, next on the table, has four points with USA and Canada having three points each. UAE has collected two points while Australia has secured only one point so far. Nepal has still not opened its account in the tournament being contested by a total of eight teams.

Meanwhile USA pulled it back dramatically to stun West Indies by 19 runs in their third-round battle, which was a day-night affair at Moin khan Academy, concluding late on Friday evening.

Set a target of 231 in 45 overs, West Indies, having won both their previous matches, appeared on course for a third successive win when they had progressed to 152 for two in the 27th over. The pair of Lawrence Farnum (69 off 90 balls) and Devon Clement (44 off 70 balls), by adding 92 for third wicket, had taken them into the driving seat but they lost their last eight wickets for only 59 runs to be bowled out for 211 in 44.1 overs. The USA spin quartet of Ameeq Khan (2-22), Irfan Rabbani (2-25), Muhammad Farrukh (2-30) and Ajay Sharma (2-33) led the fightback to engineer a come from behind win.

The Americans were indebted to skipper Farrukh, who was nominated Man of the Match, for having played a superb knock (76 off 106 balls) which allowed them to post a fighting total of 230 for seven in the allotted 45 overs.