Kolkata, February 19 Shai Hope's second consecutive fifty and a disciplined performance by the bowlers helped West Indies achieve a comfortable 42-run victory over Italy, concluding their Group C campaign in the T20 World Cup in style here on Thursday.
Despite a shaky batting performance, the Caribbean pace and spin attack worked in unison, ensuring a winning momentum heading into the Super Eights.
Setting a target of 166, Italy were bowled out for 123 in 18 overs, with Matthew Forde (3/19), Shamar Joseph (4/30), and Gudakesh Motie (2/24) doing the bulk of the damage with the ball for West Indies.
Skipper Hope smashed a 46-ball 75 to guide West Indies to 165/6 after Italy opted to field.
Hope's fluent knock, with six fours and four sixes, held the innings together, but experienced spinners Ben Manenti (2/37) and Crishan Kalugamage (2/25) choked the scoring in the final overs to keep the total in check.
On a batting-friendly Eden surface with a fast outfield, where England's 202 was nearly chased down by Italy in the previous game, the target looked underwhelming at the innings break.
However, the West Indies bowlers executed their plans flawlessly.
Young pace-bowling all-rounder Forde, who had conceded just 10 runs and taken a wicket against Nepal in Mumbai, set the tone in the powerplay with another disciplined spell. He was exceptional with the new ball, returning figures of 2/17 in three overs.
Forde dismissed Justin Mosca for 2, dismissing him with a well-disguised delivery. He then removed Syed Naqvi with a hard-length delivery that turned away as the batter tried to smash it and was caught at mid-off.
Shamar Joseph was the pick of the bowlers, using the short-ball strategy effectively. He ended Italy's resistance by taking the key wicket of Grant Stewart in the 15th over, effectively sealing the contest.
Wily left-arm spinner Motie was outstanding in the middle overs. He deceived the batters with his guile, keeping the pressure on and removing JJ Smuts (24) and Ben (26) just as they were looking to accelerate.
At the halfway stage, with Ben at the crease, the chase still looked possible. However, Italy continued to lose wickets after Forde's early strikes.
The successive dismissals of Stewart and Manenti – who had shared a blistering 92-run stand off 48 balls against England – proved costly.
Italy thus concluded their campaign with one win from four matches, their lone victory coming against Nepal.
West Indies, who had already secured their Super Eights berth, topped the group with all their wins.
Put in to bat, West Indies lost in-form Shimron Hetmyer (1) for a single-digit score for the first time in the World Cup, while opener Brandon King (4) also fell cheaply in the powerplay, but the West Indies captain batted effortlessly.
Italy struck with left-arm seamer Ali Hasan removing Brandon King (4) with his first ball.
However, Hope, fresh from an unbeaten 61 against Nepal, counterattacked in style, drilling a wide half-volley from fast bowler Thomas Draca through extra-cover.
Hasan then erred in line as Hope crashed two more fours through the off side before pulling him for a six over square leg in a 14-run over.
Hope brought up a 28-ball fifty while striking four sixes and six fours in a 46-ball knock, but Roston Chase's sluggish 24 off 25 balls (2x4) disrupted the momentum.
This slowed down the West Indies innings, and even as Hope got boundaries at will, Chase looked tentative, and struggled to rotate the strike before holing out to deep forward square.
The pressure mounted with two quick wickets – Chase and Rovman Powell (9) – as experienced off-spinner Manenti and Sri Lanka-origin leg-spinner Kalugamage turned the tide in Italy's favour.
