Alick Athanaze made a stunning debut for the West Indies with a blazing and record-equalling fifty, setting up their four-wicket victory over the United Arab Emirates in the third ODI and completing the 3-0 series sweep over UAE at Sharjah Cricket Stadium, here.
The left-hander reached his half-century in only 26 balls to match the record on ODI debut set by India's Krunal Pandya against England in 2021.Athanaze raced to 30 off his first 11 balls faced, and went on to make 65 from 45 balls as the West Indies chased down the UAE's target of 185 with 89 balls remaining to complete the series sweep on Friday night.
The 24-year-old has been made to wait for a West Indies debut after amassing 418 runs to be top-scorer at the ICC U19 World Cup 2018 ahead of future India opener Shubman Gill.Athanaze is yet to appear in a Test or T20I for the West Indies but now looms as an exciting prospect for the national setup.
The West Indies also called Kevin Sinclair into the line-up for the first time in the series to great success, as the off-spinner took 4/24 from 7.1 overs.The 23-year-old dismissed Rameez Shahzad (27) to peg the UAE back to 142/3 as they were threatening in the middle overs, and claimed the crucial wicket of Vriitya Aravind (70) soon after.
Sinclair also made the most of his opportunity to impress in just his fourth ODI with enthusiastic celebrations that included some extreme acrobatics.Athanaze and Sinclair have both been left out of the West Indies squad for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier.
The Cricket World Cup Qualifier will be played in Zimbabwe from June 18 with the West Indies campaign to start that day against the USA.The West Indies will also take on Nepal on 22 June, Zimbabwe on 24 June and the Netherlands on 26 June in Group A with the top three teams progressing to the Super Six stage.The top two teams at the Cricket World Cup Qualifier will earn a spot in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup to be held in India later this year.