A Saint-Martinois saved the day for the West Indies and probably gave the embattled cricketing confederation a chance to win a must-needed global trophy. West Indies took on England in their must-win final group game of the ICC Men's Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Potchefstroom, South Africa on Friday. And they found a new hero in Nathan Edward. (More Cricket News)
The 18-year-old all-rounder from St Maarten first rocked the English top-order, then showed nerves of steel to help West Indies steal a two-wicket win at Senwes Park -- a victory which confirmed their passage into the Super Six stage of the tournament.
The West Indies, the 2016 champions, entered the Group B match knowing well enough that a defeat could relegate them to a 16th-place playoff place. They lost the opener against the tournament hosts by 31 runs despite Jewel Andrew's heroics, who hit a sensational century. The wicket-keeper then revived the team's fortunes, with a Player of the Match performance against Scotland.
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But they still needed to beat already-qualified England in their final group match with South Africa and Scotland also in contention. A defeat would have left them with two points, opening the doors to Scotland. In such a scenario, England would have taken the group honours with six points, leaving three teams fighting for two remaining spots.
That, however, wasn't the case, thanks to Nathan Edward, the second cricketer from St. Maarten to play for the West Indies U-19 team, after Keacy Carty.
Edward returned with figures of 3/28 in 6.3 overs as the Windies dismissed England for 192 all out in 46.3 overs after winning the toss. He then hit the winning runs, a four. The left-handed batter remained unbeaten on 49 off 80 balls.
With a superior run rate of +0.653, as against England's +0.581, the Windies moved to the top of the Group B standings. Only South Africa, who face Scotland on Saturday, can now displace them from the perch.
