Kwekwe (Zimbabwe), Nov 20: The West Indies wrapped up an easy seven-wicket win over Zimbabwe a here as their top level batsmen all made vital runs ahead of the first one-day international on Saturday. Facing a target of 239-9 from their 50 overs yesterday, West Indies passed it with 11 overs to spare and just three wickets down.

Wavell Hinds retired on 69 and Shivanrine Chanderpaul on 63 before Marlon Samuels made an unbeaten 51 and Ramnaresh Sarwan was undefeated with 39.

Winning the toss and choosing to bat, Zimbabwe a captain Dion Ebrahim chose to bat first in front of a large and boisterous local crowd. Local star batsman Alester Maribgwede was top scorer with 69 and this earned him a place in the 14-man squad for the first of the series of five one-day internationals which starts at Queens Sports Club Bulawayo on Saturday. Maribgwede took sixes off Chris Gayle and Samuels.

Barney Rogers also found a place in the squad with his 54 and Sean Ervine and Gary Brent are also in the 14.

But Stuart Carlisle has been dropped from the national side after a series of failures in tests and his 28 here was not sufficient for a recall. Wavell Hinds, who seems to find Zimbabwe very much to his liking, also took 4-38 in his 10 overs.

Bureau Report