West Indies hold their nerves to beat Pakistan in T20 thriller

LAUDERHILL, Fla. (AP) – Jason Holder took four wickets and then smashed a boundary off the final ball of the game to lift West Indies to a thrilling two-wicket victory over Pakistan on Saturday and level the three-match Twenty20 cricket international series.

The veteran allrounder bowled an inspired spell to take 4-19 off four overs, as Pakistan struggled to 133 for nine after it won the toss and batted in Florida.

The West Indies reply also stumbled as Pakistan’s spinners kept scoring difficult but late cameos by Gudakesh Motie and Romario Shepherd kept West Indies just about in the contest before Holder’s heroics off Pakistan talisman Shahid Shah Afridi’s final delivery clinched it.

It is the first T20 victory for West Indies in seven matches, a span that includes a heavy 5-0 series defeat to Australia, on top of a test series sweep last month.

“Been a tough couple of weeks for us,” captain Shai Hope said. “We always try to get better, the guys have put in a lot of hard work.

“Hopefully today is the turnaround we are looking for.”

Earlier, Hasan Nawaz’s 40 from 23 balls and captain Salman Agha’s 38 from 33 deliveries led Pakistan from a precarious 53-4 in the 10th over, but 133 looked a vulnerable target at the innings break.

Fresh from taking three wickets in Pakistan’s 14-run win in the opening game at the same venue on Thursday, Mohammad Nawaz took another three Saturday, returning 3-14 from his four overs.

Like Thursday’s game, West Indies found scoring more than five-an-over difficult on the spin-friendly pitch and lost regular wickets.

When Roston Chase was teased into a big shot by Saim Ayub, West Indies had sunk to 70-5 in the 14th over and looking at a steep mountain to climb.

Motie got the innings moving with his quickfire 28 from 20 balls before Shepherd chipped in with 15 from 11 balls, including taking 10 runs off Hasan Ali in the second-to-last over to give West Indies a glimpse.

Needing eight runs from the final over, Afridi removed Shepherd off the second ball, with Holder and new batter Shamar Joseph only able to score singles off the next three balls.

Afridi then bowled a wide to leave West Indies needing three runs from the final ball. Holder then found the gap at backward square to score the boundary they needed and end their six T20 match losing streak.

“We’ve had a fair bit of criticism which is warranted,” player-of-the-match Holder said. “We haven’t done justice to our potential.

“We can be a lot better, consistency has definitely plagued us.”

The third T20 will be held in Lauderhill on Sunday before an ODI series in the Caribbean.