Zeecric Bureau
St John`s (Antigua), March 30: New Zealand won their Super Eights encounter against West Indies by 7 wickets on Thursday in a match that looked one-sided right from the start. It was a collated effort from the Kiwis that led to a boorish result for Windies.
New Zealand dominated the match throughout and seldom gave leeway to West Indies to take any chance. Coming into chase Windies’ score of 177, New Zealand lost the wicket of Fulton for a duck. Powell who dismissed Fulton also got the wicket of Marshall for a paltry 15 runs.
Stephen Fleming was then run out by West Indian captain Brian Lara. Fleming fell agonisingly short of the crease as Brian Lara threw the ball for a direct hit on to the wickets. New Zealand skipper made 45 runs from 66 balls.
Middle order batsman Scott Styris continued his top form and made another prolific half century. Styris’ 18th ODI fifty came in 72 balls. This was also his third fifty in this edition of the World Cup
Scott Styris and Craig McMillan then finished the proceedings of the day as the Kiwis won the match quite comprehensively. Styris made a credible 80 runs from 90 balls and McMillan made 33 runs from 57 balls.
Earlier, all-rounder Jacob Oram bludgeoned Windies batting attack to put New Zealand in the dock.
First change bowler, Oram notched up three top-order wickets in the space of six overs with his deceptive bounce and late movement off the seam. The downtrodden hosts did not recover after that and were left tottering at 177 all out from 44.4 overs.
Brian Lara mustered courage yet again in the second match. But all hopes of coming back into the match were drained when he was caught behind by Brendon McCullum from a Scott Styris off-cutter for 37.
After the toss was won by New Zealand, it was the turn of Shane Bond to show some heroics as the Kiwis opted to bowl. Bond did not disappoint as he took important wickets of Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul at the crucial juncture.
Oram then almost cleared the rest of the lot as he took Ramnaresh Sarwan’s wicket. Oram had Sarwan (19) brilliantly caught by the diving McCullum who took an inside edge in his left glove. Marlon Samuels (9) gloved a catch to the wicketkeeper and the dangerous Gayle, who had scored 44 from 56 balls with eight fours, dragged a ball on to his stumps.
Daniel Vettori then cleared the rest of the pile as he too clinched two wickets in the end.
West Indies were playing for the third straight day after their opening Super Eights match, a 103-run defeat by world champions Australia, spanned Tuesday and Wednesday because of rain.
Teams:
New Zealand - Stephen Fleming (captain), Peter Fulton, Hamish Marshall, Scott Styris, Craig McMillan, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCulllum, Daniel Vettori, James Franklin, Shane Bond, Michael Mason.
West Indies - Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Marlon Samuels, Brian Lara (captain), Dwayne Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Denesh Ramdin, Lendl Simmons, Daren Powell, Corey Collymore.
Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (South Africa) and Asad Rauf (Pakistan).
TV umpire: Aleem Dar (PAK)
Match referee: Mike Procter (RSA)
Reserve umpire: Billy Bowden (NZL)
Pitch conditions: Good batting track offering early seam movement but easing as the match progresses.
Weather: Temperatures rising to 28 degrees Centigrade with risk of showers.
