AdeelSabih
Tape Ball Regular
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2012
- Runs
- 397
46 overs New Zealand 219/8 (N McCullum 39*, T Southee 0*) vs West Indies
New Zealand's struggling and inexperienced batting line-up got the gift of a pancake-flat track, a tiny ground where the longest boundary is 66m long, and the chance to bat first, but didn't profit from it too much as West Indies' bowlers struck three times and kept the run-rate reasonably low.
So far Rob Nicol was the only batsman to capitalise, as he made a brisk half-century after five successive ODI failures. Predictions of a six-fest looked good when Nicol effortlessly cleared the long-on boundary in the second over, and then swatted Andre Russell over mid-on for a boundary.
The benign nature of the track was highlighted as even Russell's shorter deliveries carried through to the keeper at only about waist height. However, Russell got one to nip in from outside off to have Martin Guptill, the most experienced of New Zealand's specialist batsmen, lbw.
Daniel Flynn, with a less-than-convincing ODI record (avg 15.38, strike-rate 61.53) coming into this match, had his best chance of making a case for being retained even when Brendon McCullum is picked for the next match. He started promisingly, with some fluent drives through the off side and a six over midwicket, but he threw it away by nicking a full and wide delivery to the keeper to be dismissed for 28.
More trouble followed for New Zealand as their captain, Kane Williamson, chopped an offspinner from Sunil Narine onto his stumps to be dismissed for 9. It was left to Nicol to power the innings and he did his best, reaching his fifty with his third six of the day. He will need support from the other end, though, as any total below 300 will not be safe against an explosive West Indies batting line-up.
New Zealand's struggling and inexperienced batting line-up got the gift of a pancake-flat track, a tiny ground where the longest boundary is 66m long, and the chance to bat first, but didn't profit from it too much as West Indies' bowlers struck three times and kept the run-rate reasonably low.
So far Rob Nicol was the only batsman to capitalise, as he made a brisk half-century after five successive ODI failures. Predictions of a six-fest looked good when Nicol effortlessly cleared the long-on boundary in the second over, and then swatted Andre Russell over mid-on for a boundary.
The benign nature of the track was highlighted as even Russell's shorter deliveries carried through to the keeper at only about waist height. However, Russell got one to nip in from outside off to have Martin Guptill, the most experienced of New Zealand's specialist batsmen, lbw.
Daniel Flynn, with a less-than-convincing ODI record (avg 15.38, strike-rate 61.53) coming into this match, had his best chance of making a case for being retained even when Brendon McCullum is picked for the next match. He started promisingly, with some fluent drives through the off side and a six over midwicket, but he threw it away by nicking a full and wide delivery to the keeper to be dismissed for 28.
More trouble followed for New Zealand as their captain, Kane Williamson, chopped an offspinner from Sunil Narine onto his stumps to be dismissed for 9. It was left to Nicol to power the innings and he did his best, reaching his fifty with his third six of the day. He will need support from the other end, though, as any total below 300 will not be safe against an explosive West Indies batting line-up.
Perfect In-swinging yorker to Charles from Boult. 
