LEWIS BLASTS SNAP WINDIES LOSING RUN
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Hometown boy Evin Lewis went on a six-hitting spree to lead the charge with a pugnacious 91 that ended West Indies’ home season losing skid in style with a convincing seven-wicket victory over Pakistan in the third Twenty20 International on Saturday here.
Playing in front of a crowd of more than 6,000, the diminutive left-hander went ballistic upon the Pakistani bowlers, striking five fours and an incredible nine sixes from just 51 balls, as the Windies successfully chased 138 on a docile Queen’s Park Oval pitch to claim their first victory in six international matches on home soil for the year.
The 25-year-old Lewis from the remote village of Tableland about 30 kilometres east of the southern Trinidad city of San Fernando shared half-century stands with Marlon Samuels and compatriot Jason Mohammed to be a shoo-in for the Player-of-the-Match prize and put the West Indies firmly on track for a morale-boosting victory before he was dismissed with four needed.
Lendl Simmons, another Trinidad & Tobago native, carried the home team to the magic number with 31 balls remaining, when he scorched a drive back past leg-spinner Shadab Khan, whose bowling was the difference between the two sides in the first two matches in the series, but was reduced to rubble by a rampaging Lewis.