Ahmedabad, Oct. 8: Defending champions the West Indies began their ICC Champions Trophy qualifying round campaign on a bright note as they outclassed inexperienced Zimbabwe by nine wickets at the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium here on Sunday.

Set a target of 86 runs, the West Indies cruised to victory in 14.2 overs, after Zimbabwe were bowled out for a paltry 85, the lowest total in the shorter version of the game at the Motera ground, in 30.1 overs.

West Indies, with quality openers Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul in their ranks, did not have much problem in chasing a low total. Attacking left-hander Gayle, who took 3 wickets in 3.1 overs in the first innings, was lucky to be dropped twice in his 34 ball 41. He slammed seven boundaries and one towering six in his fast-paced innings.

The man of the match was dropped while on 21 by Zimbabwe skipper Prosper Utseya and when on 31, by Ireland off the bowling of Rainsford. Skipper Brian Lara made a quick unbeaten 24 off 20 balls, while Chanderpaul made a patient unbeaten 14.

Earlier, Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat on a wicket which offered little help to the bowlers. Nothing went right for the Zimbabweans.

New ball bowlers Jerome Taylor and left-arm seamer Ian Bradshaw made life difficult for the Zimbabwe bastman who fell like a pack of cards. Apart from Utseya (27) and opener T.V. Mufambisi (18), no other batsman was able to enter the double figures.

The top order batsman — Mufambisi, Chibhabha (1), Masakadza (1), Taylor (7), Matsikenyeri (7) — were back in the pavilion with the scorecard reading just 39. With nothing going their way, Zimbabwe could not even manage to cross the double figure mark.