By Tony Cozier
In HAMILTON
THEIR habitual inability to string together 10 respectable overs, far less 20, led the West Indies to a heavy loss to New Zealand, by 36 runs, in the second of the two 20/20 Internationals at Seddon Park here yesterday.
It broke New Zealand’s sequence of eight losses in such matches and left the series drawn after the West Indies win through the eliminator over tie-breaker in Auckland on Boxing Day.
Had a school team bowled and fielded as abysmally as the West Indies did over their first dozen overs yesterday, everyone would have been given 100 lines and sent into detention, if not flogged.
Catches were dropped, runs leaked through porous hands, wides and byes mounted. To the delight of a gates-closed crowd of 10,500 in hot sunshine on the compact ground, the burly left-hander Jesse Ryder and wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum helped themselves to seven sixes and 14 fours off 11.4 overs in a record New Zealand 20/20 opening partnership of 130.
Kieron Pollard, at mid-off, and Shaun Findlay, more difficult at long-off, put down Ryder at 16 and 47. The same two and Lionel Baker let balls through for boundaries, Jerome Taylor and Pollard sprayed wides on either side of the wicket and three times balls went past Denesh Ramdin to the boundary.
The slackness was typified when Fidel Edwards overran a trickling ball at point and casually turned to pick it up while the batsmen turned a single into two.
Throughout the Ryder-McCullum stand, a total in excess of 200 appeared certain.
A neat, low catch at mid-wicket by Shivnarine Chanderpaul that got rid of McCullum for 59 (34 balls, four sixes, six fours) and Xavier Marshall’s sensational, flying interception of the dangerous Ross Taylor’s missile on the mid-wicket boundary changed the course of the innings and transformed the West Indies’ indifference.
New Zealand’s nine wickets on McCullum’s dismissal toppled for 61 off the remaining 8.2 overs. Ryder was the third of them, holing out to long-on for 62 (41 balls, three sixes, seven fours). But the damage had already been done.
Edwards was lashed for 31 from two overs and Benn’s accuracy deserted him in his final match before returning home today to be replaced by Nikita Miller, going for 45 from his four overs.
New Zealand’s decline limited the total to 191 for nine but it was formidable enough – indeed their highest in the game’s shortest format – to again require something specia1 from captain Gayle to mount a decent challenge.
A continuation of his phenomenal assault that secured victory in the first match in Auckland on Boxing Day would have shaken the New Zealanders.
Instead, the outcome was effectively settled when his noted six-hitting ended short of its target, sending medium-paced left-armer Ewan Thompson’s second ball in international cricket into deep mid-wicket’s lap in the second over.
The tactic of opening the batting with Ramnaresh Sarwan fulfilled its objective of ending his slump in form and boosting his confidence. His 53 off 36 balls, with three sixes and three fours, was more like the genuine article, an encouraging sign for the five forthcoming ODIs but not enough to clinch an unlikely victory.
Marshall and Chanderpaul, both keys in the run chase, went cheaply in successive overs. Sarwan and the limited left-hander Shawn Findlay also followed one after the other, leaving the West Indies floundering at 87 for five half-way through the 13th over. Although Pollard and the reinstated Ramdin batted as they do for Trinidad and Tobago, with flair and common sense in adding 68 from 6.4 overs, New Zealand were never under real pressure to protect their total.
Pollard, a big man, demonstrated his power with two long sixes and one seemingly casual on-drive that scorched the manicured outfield on its way to the ropes. Once he and Ramdin apply the same principles in the 50-overs-an-innings cricket to follow, the West Indies will be considerably stronger. There was little more they could do in yesterday’s circumstances.
As a team, it is essential to maintain discipline throughout 50 overs – and, as yesterday again established, that is beyond the West Indies more often than not.
