HARARE: Captain Oliver Peak’s anchor century and Charles Lachman’s four-wicket haul helped Australia beat defending champions West Indies by 22 runs in the ICC Men’s 19 World Cup Super Sixers at the Harare Sports Club on Wednesday.
Australia’s hard-fought victory saw them finish second in the Super Sixes, putting them at the top with eight points from four matches, pushing them into the semi-finals.
Batting first, the holders posted 314/7 in their 50 overs as Peake and opener Nitesh Samuel laid a solid foundation with their third wicket partnership.
Australia started their innings with a bang, with opener Will Malajczuk hitting a 30-ball 48 with Samuel on 78, which saw the former dismissed on the final delivery of the eighth over.
Top-order Steven Hogan (four) was dismissed cheaply as the defending champions were reduced to 84/2 in 11 overs, dealing another blow to their batting charge.
Following the knock back, Peake joined Samuel in the middle and the duo put on an 85-run partnership to begin a remarkable recovery.
Vittal Laws broke the crucial stand by dismissing Samuel for 56 off 74 balls with 6 boundaries in the 28th over.
Peake, on the other hand, batted solidly till the last ball of the innings to ensure a strong finish to the Australian innings. He returned after scoring 109 off 117 balls with nine fours and a six.
For his anchoring knock, Peake was adjudged Man of the Match.
The skipper received significant support from the middle-order duo of Alex Lee Young and Jaden Draper, who scored 45 and 29 runs respectively.
For West Indies R’Jai Gittens and Jakeem Pollard took 2 wickets each and Micah McKenzie and Lawes took one wicket each.
Chasing a target of 315 runs, West Indies’ batting unit put up a good fight with the help of half-centuries from Zachary Carter and captain Joshua Dorn, but eventually they had to settle for 292/9 in 50 overs as Lachman ran through their middle and lower order.
Carter scored a brisk 64 off 42 balls while Dorn scored 62 off 97 balls. Apart from them, Jewell Andrew and Kunal Dilogani scored 44 and 35 respectively.
Lachman sparked Australia’s bowling with 4 for 66 from his nine overs, followed by Hayden Schiller and Aryan Sharma with two each, with Nathan Curre picking up a wicket.