Bau shines in World Cup opener as PNG go down fighting to West Indies

Co-hosts West Indies scrapped to a nervy five-wicket win over Papua New Guinea as the Twenty-20 World Cup held its first match in the Caribbean on Sunday.

PNG spinners restrained their opponents' power-hitters but it wasn't enough as West Indies reached a sub-par target of 137-5 with one over to spare in Guyana.

World Cup opener's top performer Sese Bau starred for PNG with half a century batting performance.

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 Charles 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.