West Indies end disappointing World Cup campaign with victory over Afghanistan

Afghanistan's World Cup campaign ended with a ninth loss in nine games as they slipped to a 23-run defeat to the West Indies at Headingley.

The Afghans had been 10-11 to finish bottom at the start of the tournament but they were far from disgraced, trading at 10-11 in-play against India and 1-3 against Pakistan.

They hit 11-10 in-play against the Windies, having reached 189-2 in pursuit of 312 for victory, but two wickets in three balls derailed their run-chase.

Shai Hope (77), Evin Lewis (58), Nicholas Pooran (58) and Jason Holder (45) were the major contributors to a West Indian total of 311-6 which set up only a second victory at the tournament for the men from the Caribbean.

Ikram Ali Khil, promoted to number three in the Afghan batting order, top-scored with an entertaining 86. Sky Bet had rated him 22-1 to outscore his teammates.

The Windies had been 2-5 for a group-stage exit but they raised expectations with a devastating opening win over Pakistan, who were bowled out for just 105 at Trent Bridge.

Six defeats and a washout followed although there were some bright individual performances and 23-year-old batsman Pooran ended up as the West Indies' top runscorer, having been a 14-1 chance at the start of the World Cup.

Sheldon Cottrell, a 4-1 shot, was the Windies' leading tournament wicket-taker while Mohammad Nabi, at 9-2, turned over 6-5 ante-post favourite Rashid Khan in the top Afghan bowler market. Rahmat Shah, the 7-2 market leader, was their leading runscorer.

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