Despite that burst of aggression, Pooran never fully settled and did eventually become the second wicket to fall when he chipped John Kariko to long-on at the start of the ninth. Vala then brought himself on to make it spin from both ends, with King’s attempt to break the shackles ending in the hands of deep midwicket. Vala delivered the second wicket-maiden of the innings, and West Indian nerves began to jangle again as they edged along to 77 for 3 at the end of the 13th, having scored 25 runs from 42 balls outside of the powerplay.

West Indies captain, Rovman Powell, struck a much-needed boundary off Chad Soper but was dismissed in the same over, despite confidently reviewing after being given out caught behind. Chase popped above the parapet to slog-sweep Charles Amini for six – his first boundary coming from his 15th ball – but Vala then had Rutherford caught behind in the following over, Doriga clutching the ball between a combination of legs, gloves and body, to leave West Indies 97 for 5 and fighting to stave off a major upset.

Everything went right initially for the co-hosts, who were starting their campaign to win a third T20 title. Powell won the toss and chose to insert PNG for the morning start in Providence, noting the “inclement weather around and also a fresh wicket”. Akeal Hosein opened the bowling and proceeded to concede just a single off the opening over, during which Tony Ura and Vala struggled to lay bat on ball. The scale of the challenge for PNG was clear.

West Indies duly made inroads, Ura edging behind off Romario Shepherd in the second over before Lega Siaka was undone by his second legitimate delivery, Hosein swinging one back through the gate to hit middle and off. Although Vala found his feet after inching along to 5 off 10, stepping out to loft Chase for an imperious six, then smacking Alzarri Joseph for two fours in three balls, he fell to the last ball of the powerplay – Joseph exacting revenge thanks to Chase’s brilliant diving catch – to leave PNG up against it at 34 for 3.

Bau had struck the first boundary of day, driving Russell back down the ground in the fourth over, and he played assertively to steer his side away from disaster and towards a competitive total. A reverse-sweep off Hosein also found the rope, before he skipped down to loft Chase through long-off. Although Bau lost another partner when Hiri Hiri fell to Gudakesh Motie’s fourth ball, caught at slip reverse-sweeping, the subsequent fifth-wicket stand of 44 with Amini was comfortably the biggest of the PNG innings.

After a few overs of consolidation, Bau cut lose against Motie, hitting the spinner down the ground and over wide long-on for four and six from consecutive deliveries, then adding another boundary through the covers to get PNG’s run rate above a run a ball. A top-edged four off Joseph took him to the brink of a half-century, although he lost his partner before he could get there as Amini nicked behind cutting at Russell.

Bau duly reached a 42-ball fifty at the start of the following over – the second by a PNG batter in T20 World Cups, and the second against a Full Member nation in T20Is – before being defeated by a Joseph slower ball to leave his side 98 for 6 in the 17th over.

That PNG managed to add 38 from the last 21 balls of the innings was largely down to Doriga, as well as a sloppy finish from the West Indies attack. Doriga might have been dismissed for 1 off 6 balls, when a Joseph delivery clipped off stump without disturbing the bails, but the PNG wicketkeeper proceeded to combine hard running with the occasionally hearty thwack to finish unbeaten on 27 from 18. Shepherd, Russell and Joseph all leaked runs at the death, with the latter carved for back-to-back fours at the start of the 20th before overstepping with what should have been the final ball.

Brief scores:
West Indies 137 for 5 in 19 overs  (Brandon King 34, Nicholas Pooran 27, Roston Chase 42*, Andre Russel 15*; Alei Nao 1-09, Chad Soper 1-19, John Kariko 1-17, Assad Vala 2-28) beat Papua New Guinea 136 for 8 in 20 overs  (Assad Vala 21, Sese Bau 50, Kiplin Doriga 27*; Akeal Hossein 1-09, Romarion Shepherd 1-23,  Andre Russell 2-19, Alzarri Joseph 2-34, Gudakesh Motie 1-24) by five wickets

[Cricinfo]