Cricket World Cup: Chris Gayle helps West Indies to win over Afghanistan

West Indies' Chris Gayle holds the ball as he leaves the ground after their win over Afghanistan in the Cricket World Cup match at Headingley in England. Photo / AP

Chris Gayle failed with the bat but took a pivotal wicket in his disciplined bowling spell to help West Indies beat Afghanistan by 23 runs in his final Cricket World Cup match.

Afghanistan was on track to chase down a target of 312 when the 39-year-old Gayle, with his occasional offspin, trapped 18-year-old batsman Ikram Ali Khil in front of his stumps and took out Afghanistan's key man for 86.

It sparked a mini-collapse by the Afghans, who lost two more wickets in the next 13 balls to slip from 189-2 to 201-5.

They were dismissed for 288 on the last ball of the match, their highest total at a World Cup but still not enough to avoid returning home with a sweep of nine losses.

Gayle — making his record-tying 295th ODI appearance for the Windies and last in World Cups — had bowling figures of 1-28 off his six overs to make up for only getting 7 off 18 balls with the bat. Gayle had needed 18 runs to top Brian Lara (10,348) as West Indies' leading scorer in ODIs.

Next-to-last West Indies ended the World Cup with two victories — from their first and last games — and moved level on five points on South Africa, which still has a match to play against Australia.

The Windies won the toss and made 311-6, with Evin Lewis (58) and Shai Hope (77) scoring half-centuries before Nicholas Pooran (58 off 43) and Jason Holder (45 off 34, including four sixes) helped the team rack up a match-defining 111 runs off the last 10 overs.

- AP