The Latest: Australia's Marsh breaks arms, out of World Cup

By Associated Press 05 July 2019, 12:00AM

LONDON (AP) — The Latest on Day 36 of the Cricket World Cup (all times local):

9:25 p.m.

Australia batsman Shaun Marsh will miss the rest of the World Cup after his forearm was broken when it was struck in the nets on Thursday in Manchester.

Marsh was replaced in the 15-man squad by Peter Handscomb, a middle-order batsman who has played 21 one-day internationals since his 2017 debut. He averages 34.88. Handscomb is touring England with Australia A. He scored 57 against Gloucestershire on Sunday.

Defending champion Australia has reached the semifinals. It plays its last group match on Saturday against South Africa at Old Trafford.

The Australians were there practicing when Marsh was hit above the wrist by a lifter from Pat Cummins. This was moments after Glenn Maxwell was struck on the right forearm by a short ball from Mitchell Starc.

Marsh and Maxwell were immediately taken to a local hospital for X-rays.

In the same practice, Steve Smith and Jason Behrendorff received scares when they hurt fingers during fielding practice.

Marsh played only two World Cup matches, scoring a combined 26 runs.

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7 p.m.

Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naib has criticized the professionalism and fitness of his team after it ended the Cricket World Cup with nine losses in nine matches.

After finishing the tournament with a 23-run defeat to West Indies, Gulbadin said "nobody has (played) 100% for the team or country. It's not professional cricket ... Fitness is a problem — if not fit, nothing will go well."

Gulbadin said that apart from four or five matches, "Afghanistan played very badly here. I'm very upset by our performance. We didn't give 100% for our audience."

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6:20 p.m.

Chris Gayle failed with the bat but took a pivotal wicket in his disciplined bowling spell to help West Indies beat Afghanistan by 23 runs in his final Cricket World Cup match.

Afghanistan was on track to chase down a target of 312 when the 39-year-old Gayle, with his occasional offspin, trapped 18-year-old batsman Ikram Ali Khil in front of his stumps and took out Afghanistan's key man for 86.

It sparked a mini-collapse by the Afghans, who lost two more wickets in the next 13 balls to slip from 189-2 to 201-5. They finished on 288 all out on the last ball, their highest total at a World Cup but still not enough to avoid returning home with a sweep of nine losses.

Next-to-last West Indies ended the World Cup with two victories — from their first and last games — and moved level on five points on South Africa, which still has a match to play against Australia.

Gayle had bowling figures of 1-28 off six overs to make up for only getting 7 off 18 balls with the bat in West Indies' 311-6.

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5:35 p.m.

West Indies has claimed three wickets in 14 balls to take charge of its Cricket World Cup closer against Afghanistan.

With his occasional offspin, Chris Gayle took the key wicket of Ikram Ali Khil, trapping him lbw for 86, before Najibullah Zadran (31) was run out two balls later and Mohammad Nabi (2) then holed out in the deep off Kemar Roach.

Chasing 312, Afghanistan is 220-5 and has a required run rate of 9.20 with 10 overs left.

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4:30 p.m.

Afghanistan has given itself a decent chance of chasing down the target of 312 against West Indies after reaching 132-1 halfway through its allotted 50 overs.

The Afghans need to go at 7.2 runs an over to achieve their most successful run chase in ODI history.

Rahmat Shah (59) and Ikram Ali Khil (64) were well set after rebuilding the innings following the departure of Gulbadin Naib for 5, caught by Evin Lewis off Kemar Roach in the second over.

Afghanistan, which has lost all eight of its games this tournament, has never chased down 300 in ODIs.

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2:10 p.m.

Afghanistan will have to make its biggest score by far at this Cricket World Cup to finish the tournament with a win after West Indies posted 311-6 at Headingley.

After the early departure of Chris Gayle (7) in the last World Cup innings of his career, West Indies bounced back through half-centuries by Evin Lewis (58) and Shai Hope (77).

Some late big-hitting from Nicholas Pooran (58 off 43) and Jason Holder (45 off 34, including four sixes) in the middle order helped take the Windies beyond 300 in the final over, the kind of total that has been beyond Afghanistan this tournament.

The Afghans' highest score in its opening eight group games was 247-8 against England in Manchester. The average score for teams batting second has been 234.

Rashid Khan, Afghanistan's most famous player, continued his disappointing form at the World Cup with bowling figures of 1-52 and he also dropped Hope — on 5 — at midwicket. He finishes the tournament with six wickets in total at an average of 69.

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12:35 p.m.

West Indies is 147-2 after 30 overs against Afghanistan.

Shai Hope is on 50 — his third half-century at this World Cup — and Shimron Hetmyer is on 29 off 19 balls.

Evin Lewis was the second batsman to depart, holing out to Mohammad Nabi in the deep off Rashid Khan for 58.

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11 a.m.

Chris Gayle's last innings at a Cricket World Cup lasted 18 balls.

"The Universe Boss," as the 39-year-old West Indies opener calls himself, was on 7 when he stepped forward at the crease and tried to smash Dawlat Zadran to the fence on the offside. He ended up nicking it behind to Ikram Ali Khil.

Gayle trudged off, briefly holding his bat up to the crowd. He had needed 18 runs to eclipse Brian Lara's record of 10,348 for the West Indies in ODIs.

Gayle is making his record-tying 295th ODI appearance for the Windies, matching Lara's haul. He had planned to retire from ODIs at the end of the World Cup but recently said he would be available for matches against India in August.

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10:10 a.m.

West Indies has won the toss and will bat first against Afghanistan under sunny skies and on a pitch that should be good for batting.

The Windies have made two changes, with opener Evin Lewis and paceman Kemar Roach in for Sunil Ambris and Shannon Gabriel.

Afghanistan brought in Dawlat Zadran and Sayed Shirzad for Hashmatullah Shahidi and the newly retired Hamid Hassan.

Headingley is bathed in sunshine for the last match for both teams at the tournament.

Lineups:

Afghanistan: Gulbadin Naib, Rahmat Shah, Ikram Ali Khil, Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi, Najibullah Zadran, Samiullah Shinwari, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Dawlat Zadran, Sayed Shirzad.

West Indies: Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Shai Hope, Nicholas Pooran, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Carlos Brathwaite, Fabian Allen, Kemar Roach, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas.

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9:50 a.m.

Certain to finish in last place in the Cricket World Cup standings, Afghanistan can still sign off on a high note by beating West Indies for its first win of the 2019 tournament.

It is a match between the worst two teams of the group stage, with West Indies only on three points — courtesy of a win over Pakistan and a washout — and Afghanistan on 0. Neither team can progress to the semifinals.

Afghanistan won one of its six group matches in the 2015 World Cup, when the country was making its debut.

West Indies has underperformed over the past five weeks but will be looking to give 39-year-old star opener Chris Gayle a successful send-off in his last World Cup match.

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More AP cricket: www.apnews.com/cricket and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

By Associated Press 05 July 2019, 12:00AM

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