Chris Gayle and Narsingh Deonarine hit half-centuries as the West Indies beat Zimbabwe by four wickets in the second one-day international on Saturday.
Zimbabwe failed to successfully defend a target score of 207, as Gayle collected the top score of 88 from 111 balls and Deonarine supported with 65 from 85 balls.
The result brought the West Indies level at 1-1 in the five-match series, after Zimbabwe won the opener on Thursday at the same venue.
It was also the West Indies first victory over international opposition since a depleted side prevailed over Bangladesh by five runs in a Twenty20 International in St Kitts in August.
“This is a big relief,” West Indies captain Gayle said. “Hopefully, this is the first of many to come. I must commend Zimbabwe about the way they have gone about their business in this series. They have played some good cricket and they have put us under a lot of pressure. It wasn’t an easy game, but I am happy that we rebounded and we won this game. Hopefully, we can carry on for the remainder of the series.”
Elton Chigumbura struck five fours in a 50 from 72 balls, after Zimbabwe were dismissed for 206 in 49.5 overs when they decided to bat first.
The Zimbabweans batting was dismantled by left-arm spinner Nikita Miller, with a career-best spell of four wickets for 43 runs from 10 overs, and fast bowler Kemar Roach, with three for 37 from 9.5 overs.
Zimbabwe appeared to have taken control of the match when the West Indies declined to 85 for four in the 26th over in their chase.
The Zimbabwean spin bowlers were again squeezing the life out of the West Indies batting, when Deonarine joined fellow left-hander Gayle, but the visitors could not maintain their hold on the match, as Deonarine, in particular, and Gayle gradually loosened their grip in a stand of 83 for the fifth wicket.
Leg-spinner Graeme Cremer had Gayle stumped, however, with the West Indies still needing 39 from the last 49 balls.
When Price had Kieron Pollard caught at long-on three overs later, Zimbabwe were on their toes and the West Indies were on the edge of their seats, but this time there was no late drama, as Darren Sammy hit Price to long-off for four to seal the victory.
“We just believed that if we could keep bowling in partnerships, we could upset them,” Zimbabwe captain Prosper Utseya said. “The ball started to turn [for our spinners] and it was also keeping low, but we just did not have enough runs on the board to keep up the pressure.”
“We probably came up a little short on the batting side,” he said. “We never got a partnership up front and we kept losing wickets at key moments, so that’s why we were about 20 runs short of setting a decent target.”
The two sides now travel to the island of St Vincent for the remaining three one-day internationals on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
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