By Saif Yasin
In the final T20 in Florida, West Indies ended their series on a high note by sealing another convincing win over New Zealand. With yet another enormous crowd on hand at the Central Broward Regional Park, West Indies skipper Darren Sammy won the toss and elected to bat first. News had reached the fans earlier that one of the stars from previous match, Kieron Pollard, would be rested but this did not damper the spirits of the fans.
Sunil Narine had 4 for 12 in Windies win over New Zealand in the second T20 game. Photo by Shiek Mohamed
The crowd was as jubilant as ever, as the duo Chris Gayle and Dwayne Smith walked to the middle. With their normal captain, Ross Taylor, out for the remainder of the series, the Black Caps were captained by Kane Williamson who gave the new ball to pacer Kyle Mills. In the same fashion as the previous game Smith wasted no time as he clobbered two sixes in the first three balls. One was being deposited in the party stand at midwicket, the other being sent over long on boundary. Fourteen runs came off Mills’ first over, but it was short lived for the West Indies.
In the first ball of the new over bowled by Doug Bracewell, Smith top edged a short ball and was caught by the pacer inches away from his crease for thirteen. The leading run scorer in the in the Caribbean T20, Johnson Charles, came to crease to replace Smith and wasted no time as he played a superlative shot to guide the ball down fine leg boundary for four. The next ball faced a similar fate as 8 runs total came off of Bracewell’s over.
After all that had taken place in the last two overs, it was hard to believe that Chris Gayle hadn’t faced a ball yet. He got his chance in third over, but surrendered a maiden over to Kyle Mills which was very uncharacteristic of him. The two batsmen took their time from then on picking up the easy 1s and 2s; it wasn’t until the eight over with the score reading 45-1 that two exploded on New Zealand bowling attack. They took 18 off Bracewell’s over followed by 9 off Nathan McCullum’s over. Rob Nicol came into the attack and wasted no time removing Charles for a well played 36. In replacement of Kieron Pollard, Lendl Simmons came in to bat. In the next over Gayle brought up his second consecutive half century after taking Bracewell for 17. In the next over Nathan McCullum did something that not many bowlers can say they have done; bowled Chris Gayle. He pegged back the opener’s middle stump leaving him to walk back to the pavilion for a blistering 53. Simmons went to the last ball of the over after he was caught trying to pull a mid-wicket. Some late hitting from Dwayne Bravo saw the West Indies post another huge total, that of 177.
Inning’s Summary
West Indies: 177 for 5 (Chris Gayle 53 3x4s & 4x6s/ Johnson Charles 36 4x4s & 1×6/ Dwayne Bravo 35 1×4 & 4x6s)
New Zealand: Nathan McCullum 3-0-19-2/ Rob Nicol 2-0-11-1/ Tim Southee 4-0-43-1
Faced with a massive total yet again, New Zealand sent out openers Rob Nicol and Martin Guptil. Fidel Edwards took the duty of sharing the new ball with Samuel Badree, but the two didn’t have much success. They bowled consistently, but it was to no avail as the two New Zealand batsmen looked settled. Sunil Narine came into the attack in the fourth over and got the better of Guptil having caught for 18. Crossing the runs left Nicol on strike to face the last ball of the over and Narine stumped the leg side for 7. He was on a hat trick, but he would have to wait for the next over. Badree got into the spirit of things and had Kane Williamson run out for 6. It looked as though it would be yet another New Zealand collapse. Narine on the hat trick almost got it as Daniel Flynn edged a ball that landed just short of Chris Gayle at first slip.
From then on New Zealand scampered for runs as Narine and the West Indian bowlers kept them in check. They were eventually bowled out for a lackluster 116 which included a total 8 boundaries. It was Sunil Narine who inflicted most of the damage as he had an amazing four overs, twelve runs and 4 wickets. He was rightfully adjudged man of the match while Chris Gayle was named man of the series.
West Indies head to Jamaica for the first ODI on Thursday with a bolster of confidence, as for New Zealand they will be looking rebound from excruciating loses here in Florida. So that’s the end of a wonderful weekend in Florida for United States cricket, what took place here will definitely leave a smile on fans and administrators alike. I for one will look forward to visiting Broward County Regional Park every year to witness matches of this nature.
Inning’s Summary
New Zealand: 116-10 (Daniel Flynn 22 2x6s/Doug Bracewell 20 2×6/ Tom Latham 19 1×6)
West Indies: Sunil Narine 4-0-12-4/ Marlon Samuels 3-0-25-2/ Dwayne Bravo 2.4-0-23-2
