Windies crush hapless Pakistan

West Indies crushed Pakistan by seven wickets in a one-sided World Cup match at Trent Bridge Nottingham on Friday, with the two-time champions showing they are a resurgent force in the one-day game.

Fast bowler Oshane Thomas took four wickets as Pakistan were bundled out for their second-lowest World Cup total of 105 in just 21.4 overs on the second day of the competition in England and Wales.

West Indies then cruised to victory in j13.4 overs, Chris Gayle top-scoring with 50. He reached his half-century off 33 balls with three sixes and six fours before he was dismissed off the next ball he faced.

During his innings Gayle, who calls himself the “Universe Boss”, broke the record for the most sixes hit in World Cup history.

He now has 40, three more than retired SA batsman A B de Villiers.

Nicolas Pooran smashed paceman Wahab Riaz for a huge six over the squareleg boundary to give the 1975 and 1979 world champions an ideal start to their campaign.

The only positive for Pakistan was three wickets for paceman Mohammad Amir on his World Cup debut after he missed the 2011 and 2015 tournaments due to a spot-fixing ban of 2010.

Amir had Shai Hope (11), Darren Bravo (0) and Gayle caught in an incisive sixover spell, but Pakistan had not put enough runs on the board.

Their lowest World Cup score was 74, made against England at Adelaide on the way to their only World Cup title in 1992. –