Windies have firepower to break 500-run barrier: Hope

Shai Hope has insisted that while West Indies are not aiming to score 500 runs in the upcoming World Cup, it would be great if his team becomes the first to cross that mark.

"It is definitely a goal we can try to achieve at some point," the ICC website quoted Hope as saying after Tuesday's warm-up game against New Zealand. "Definitely, it would be great to be the first team to cross that 500 mark, and I am sure we have the batting firepower to do it."

Windies were absolutely ruthless in their batting approach as they posted a monstrous 422 run target for the Black Caps and then defended it easily, securing a 91-run victory.

With the likes of Shimron Hetmyer, Nicholas Pooran, Evin Lewis and Carlos Brathwaite in the line-up apart from the aforementioned trio of Gayle, Russell and Hope, West Indies have the fire power to dismantle attacks.

Carlos Brathwaite also agreed with Hope, although he acknowledged that West Indies had the benefit of a longer batting line-up for the New Zealand warm-up match than they would in an 11-a-side match.

"If you are asking me if we are capable of it, definitely we are," Brathwaite said. "However, in a real game you probably won't have the depth in batting at 10 and 11 that we had today. So you need to be a little real about the target.

Earlier at the Captain's meet in London, Indian skipper Virat Kohli had said that England, who are the tournament favourites, seem to be obsessed with becoming the first team to score 500 runs in ODI cricket.

"I was just going to say it really depends on these guys. They seem to be obsessed with getting to 500 before anyone else," said Kohli while pointing to his English counterpart Eoin Morgan, who sat next to him.

The World Cup will begin on Thursday with hosts England taking on South Africa at The Oval.

--IANS

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