The West Indies defeated New Zealand by seven runs at Eden Park, Auckland, on Wednesday, November 5. This was the Caribbean side's fifth consecutive victory in the shortest format.
Mitchell Santner won
the toss and opted to bowl first before Jacob Duffy dismissed Brandon King in the first over. Alick Athanaze got off to a brisk start before Kyle Jamieson dismissed him. Ackeem Auguste departed cheaply but Shai Hope anchored the innings well through the middle overs.
The pitch wasn't easy for batting as it was two-paced, with some balls stopping on the batters. Hope smashed 53 off 39 balls, hitting four fours and three sixes. However, Roston Chase struggled to adapt to the conditions. He was dismissed for 28 off 27 balls.
Rovman Powell played a crucial 33-run knock off 23 balls, hitting two fours and two sixes to inject some much-needed momentum into the innings. Romario Shepherd hit a couple of boundaries to close out the final over as the tourists finished on 164/6 in their 20 overs. After scoring just 66/3 in the first 10 overs, the West Indies smashed 98 in the last 10.
Duffy was the pick of the New Zealand bowlers. Apart from picking up two wickets, the right-arm seamer conceded just 19 runs in his four-over spell.
Tim Robinson and Devon Conway added 30 runs in three overs, getting their team off to a flying start. However, both batters failed to capitalise on their starts. The middle-order collapsed alarmingly, as the hosts were reeling at 107/9 in the 17th over. They had lost their last seven wickets for just 37 runs.
Captain Santner played counter-attacking cricket, hitting boundaries for fun against the West Indies bowlers. New Zealand needed 56 runs off the last three overs. The 18th and 19th overs yielded 36 overs.
Needing 20 runs to win off the last over, Romario Shepherd started by bowling back-to-back dots. Santner hit a six and took a couple off the next two balls. He got to his half-century off just 26 balls with the double. The all-rounder could only get four runs off the last two balls as New Zealand finished on 157/9 in 20 overs. Chase and Jayden Seales were the pick of the bowlers for the Windies, bagging three wickets each.
