West Indies clashed with New Zealand at Old Trafford in Manchester in a match that played a very important part in the team standings. New Zealand was undefeated so far and wanted to cement their place in the semi-finals. West Indies, on the other hand, looked to change the face of the semi-finals with a win.
West Indies won the toss and chose to bowl first. Munro and Guptill opened the innings for New Zealand. Cottrell went straight on attack as there was an LBW review and New Zealand lost their first wicket off the first ball. It was an amazing start for West Indies with Guptil departing for a duck.
Cottrell wasn’t just satisfied with one and he went back for a second wicket in Colin Munro. New Zealand was left reeling at 7/2. The batting side couldn’t catch a break as the wickets were followed by a maiden over by Sheldon Cottrell. He looked to be in a fabulous rhythm.
Williamson and Taylor were left to pick the pieces for their team after the destruction Cottrell had caused amongst their ranks. Evin Lewis was off the field after he experienced pain in his right hamstring being replaced by Fabian Allen.
New Zealand at 30/2 after 10 overs and that’s the lowest score in first 10 overs in the World Cup so far. It was an astonishingly bad performance from a team that had played brilliantly in the tournament so far.
Williamson and Taylor brought the game back into some level of sanity with a partnership of 52 runs off 92 balls. New Zealand crossed the 50 run mark in the 16th over with 59/2. The partnership continued to the 24th over where they hailed in a 100 for New Zealand and a 50 for both Williamson and Taylor.
Gayle finally managed to break the partnership off as Taylor lifted the ball and Holder took a high catch. This brought an end to the 160 run partnership Taylor and Williamson had built. Gayle is now West Indies’ all-time leading wicket taker in ODIs against New Zealand with 22.
Williamson played a brilliant innings for his team and got to a century in the 38th over. Cottrell came back for more destruction and took out Latham in a caught and bowled at 12. His real damage, however, came with the wicket of Williamson who had been single-handedly sustaining the New Zealand innings. Williamson was a true captain for his team as he amassed 148 runs off 154 balls and carried the kiwis out of a tight corner.
Quick on the heels of the skipper’s dismissal, a quick succession of wickets fell for New Zealand. De Grandhomme was run out for 16 while Santer and Neesham gave got caught by Cottrell at 10 and 28 respectively. This brought an end to the New Zealand innings at 291/8.
Shai Hope and Evin Lewis aimed for early runs but New Zealand bowled a tight spell with Boult starting things off with a maiden over. Boult successfully upgraded his performance by taking two crucial wickets early. Shai Hope departed at 1 and Nicholas Pooran replicated the same.
Gayle and Hetymar tried to stabilize the floundering West Indies innings, putting up the first 50 of the game in 15th over with 89/2. By the 17th over, Gayle had crossed a 50 and West Indies had inched past 100 with 102/2.
In a display of poor fielding Gayle was dropped twice and scored sixes and boundaries where he could have been walking back to the pavilion. He made the most of his lifeline hitting consecutive sixes to take Indies to 130/2. Hetmyer accompanied Gayle with a 50 of his own.
It was starting to look like West Indies had a stable partnership going when they stepped into a literal avalanche of wickets. Lockie Ferguson took back to back wickets as he first got Hetmyer at 54 with a bit of marvelous bowling and followed it up Holder’s wicket for duck. Gayle ended up being caught out at 87 with 8 fours and 6 sixes to his name. The West Indies hope seemed to be dwindling out quickly as Nurse went out for 1 and Lewis made for another duck. Roach tried to stick around but was also taken at 14.
Brathwaite was the only player by now who had stuck around long enough to make a valid contribution to the team. He got to his 50 in 52 balls near the 41st over but with the wickets dropping fast from the other side there was only so much he could do. West Indies needed 65 runs off 54 balls to win at this point.
It wasn’t an entirely unachievable goal but the rapid fall of wickets seemed to be a problem for the side. Ferguson came back to take out Cottrell and West Indies were a precarious 286/9 at the end of 48.4 overs. Brathwaite completed an immense century and but it would be of no help to his team as Neesham took out his wicket to halt West Indies at 286.
New Zealand won the match by 5 runs and West Indies are now effectively out of the world cup. Carlos Brathwaite would be disappointed that his efforts went in vain as he played a brilliant innings of 101 from 82 balls with 99 fours and 5 sixes.
New Zealand is now back on top of the table with 11 points.