.png)
New Zealand are all but confirmed to be eliminated from the T20 World Cup with a crucial loss to the West Indies.
The New Zealand opening bowlers had early success in having the West Indies four wickets down inside the powerplay.
Trent Boult’s wicket in the first over started the proceedings off for the Kiwis with Johnson Charles chopping on for a five-ball duck.
Trouble was only going to keep building for the hosts with Aotearoa taking wickets every over from the fourth to the seventh overs. The West Indies wicket-keeper, Nicholas Pooran found his wicket going to the returning Tim Southee for 17.
Wickets in the following two overs of Roston Chase (0) and Rovman Powell (1) to Lockie Ferguson and Southee, left the hosts in real trouble at 22/4, having been 20/1 not long before.
Further trouble was coming just three balls after the powerplay as opener Brandon King who had been watching all the wickets fall at the other end, was dismissed by Jimmy Neesham for nine.
At 30/5, after just 6.3 overs, it would be hard to see the West Indies put on a decent total on a tricky surface.
Sherfane Rutherford and Akeal Hosein showed their worth as all-rounders, rebuilding the hosts' innings up until the tenth over when the spin of Mitchell Santner was introduced.
Early success came for Santner with Hosein sending the ball straight to Jimmy Neesham at short mid-wicket and the score sitting at 58/6 after 11 overs.
Power hitter Andre Russell tried a power-attacking innings and did manage to strike a six and two fours in a quick knock of 14 from just seven balls. The wicket of Russell was crucial for the New Zealanders with his firepower known in franchise and international cricket.
Sherfane Rutherford kept on building runs for the West Indies and alongside Romario Shepherd's run-a-ball 13, the pair got their team over the 100-run mark with just over four overs left in the first innings.
Alzarri Joseph couldn’t last long either falling to Boult for six and the West Indies 112/9 with 13 balls left.
However, with the four main bowlers of Boult, Southee, Ferguson, and Neesham all having their spells bowled out, Kane Williamson turned to part-timer Daryl Mitchell.
Mitchell conceded 19 runs from the nineteenth over with Rutherford smashing three sixes and bringing up a second T20I 50. He smartly got himself on strike for the last over and it paid off for his side.
18 runs were managed from the final over with Rutherford ending the innings on 68* from 39 balls and his side set the Kiwis a target of 150 for victory.
In pursuit of 150, the New Zealand batters were going to need to get themselves off to a better start than they had done against Afghanistan in the first match.
Devon Conway once again failed with the bat, out for five by Akeal Hosein, who was coming off a five-wicket bag in his side’s previous match against Uganda.
Finn Allen managed to find three fours and six in his 26-run knock. Alazarri Joseph managed to get Allen in his first over with Andre Russell taking the catch in the deep after an earlier chance went begging when Rutherford dropped him on 26.
Disaster struck in the next over for Aotearoa as captain Kane Williamson edged behind to Pooran off Gudakesh Motie for just one from two balls.
The fall of Rachin Ravindra’s wicket fell just as the Kiwis needed to start upping the scoring rate, and he’d tried to do just that as he took on Motie but found the hands of Russell in the deep for ten.
Hosein and Motie kept applying the pressure on the New Zealand batters with Glenn Phillips and Daryl Mitchell unable to find much luck, Motie pounced on this and bowled Mitchell for 12.
Two of New Zealand’s most powerful hitting players of Phillips and Neesham but overs going for only 6, 4, and 4 led to Neesham trying to hit the ball out of the park, instead skying it straight up to King and Joseph grabbing the wicket.
Taking only two runs for the sixteenth over left New Zealand in an uphill battle of 63 needed from just 24 balls.
Phillips tried his best in the next over going for 13 runs and then two fours before losing his wicket to Joseph.
Southee was out first ball to Joseph, caught and bowled at a time when there was just too much to do.
Boult came out and hit Russell for a six before sending one to Chase to depart for seven.
The final over left New Zealand needing 33 runs to win, and even though Santner struck three sixes it wasn’t enough as the hosts took a 13-run win.
New Zealand’s chances are extremely slim of making the Super 8s with Afghanistan needing huge defeats to Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the West Indies whilst the Kiwis need to beat PNG and Uganda by a huge margin.
Comments