West Indies elect to field in bid to beat UAE and rain

© Reuters

West Indies captain Jason Holder  West Indies will be casting a nervous eye over weather reports after winning the toss and deciding to field in a must-win World Cup match against United Arab Emirates in their final Pool B game in Napier on Sunday. The remnants of Cyclone Pam are expected to sweep down the east coast of New Zealand's North Island later in the day with rain expected in the afternoon. Jason Holder's team must beat UAE, and preferably by a big margin, at McLean Park to give themselves any chance of making the quarter-finals. Pakistan and Ireland, who are both on six points, clash later in Adelaide with the winner of that game finishing third in Pool B. The loser could still advance if West Indies lose or the match is washed out. Chris Gayle, who has had a back injury, was ruled out with Johnson Charles joining Dwayne Smith at the top of the batting order. Gayle scored the first World Cup double century against Zimbabwe last month and his aggressive style will be missed as West Indies try to chase down a target before the rain arrives. UAE were forced into one change with Fahad Alhashmi suffering a bad knee injury in their last match against South Africa in Wellington on Thursday and left armer Manjula Guruge coming back into the side. Swapnil Patil also resumes wicketkeeping duties from Saqlain Haider while Nasir Aziz replaces Kamran Shazad. West Indies - Dwayne Smith, Johnson Charles, Marlon Samuels, Jonathan Carter, Denesh Ramdin, Lendl Simmons, Darren Sammy, Andre Russell, Jason Holder (captain), Jerome Taylor, Kemar Roach UAE - Amjad Ali, Andri Berenger, Krishna Chandran, Khurram Khan, Shaiman Anwar, Swapnil Patel, Amjad Javed, Mohammad Naveed, Mohammad Tauqir, Nasir Aziz, Manjula Guruge.