Published: Mar 21, 2015, 04:05 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 22, 2015, 11:54 AM (IST)
New Zealand thrashed West Indies by 143 runs and have qualified to the semi-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. Martin Guptill’s historic double century propelled New Zealand to a huge total and West Indies were never in the chase. Pramod Ananth lists a few highlights of the game.
Martin Guptill dropped on four: New Zealand opener Martin Guptill was let off when he was batting on four in the third ball of the match. Jerome Taylor bowled a leg stump half volley and Guptill clipped it towards Samuels standing on square leg. He spilt the catch and that would eventually cost West Indies the match. READ: Martin Guptill’s innings unforgettable, says McCullum
Brendon McCullum’s six awards spectator a million Dollars: McCullum hit Jason Holder for a huge six over square leg in the fourth over of the match and a man in the crowd manage to hold on to it with one hand. He will go home with a million Dollars as a part of the competition that was initiated in the beginning of the tournament, granting a million Dollars to whoever catches the ball one-handed. READ: New Zealand route West Indies by 143 runs
Guptill scores record-breaking double ton: Guptill became the fifth player in the world to score a double century in One-Day Internationals (ODIs). He got to this feat off 152 deliveries and eventually went on to remain unbeaten on 237 off 163 deliveries with 24 fours and 11 sixes punctuating his innings. This is also the second highest score in ODIs behind Rohit Sharma, who scored 264 against Sri Lanka at Kolkata. READ: New Zealand downplay West Indies mauling
Martin Guptill-Ross Taylor partnership: Guptill and Taylor put on a 143-run stand for the third wicket and that set the tone for the rest of the innings. This partnership gave stability to the innings set the platform for the others to get their team to a huge total.
New Zealand strike early: With 394 to win, West Indies got off to a bad start as they lost two wickets in the first six overs. Trent Boult was the chief architect in sending Johnson Charles and Lendl Simmons back into the pavilion.
Chris Gayle’s brief spark: It seemed like West Indies still had a chance of winning when Chris Gayle was going all guns blazing. Gayle got to his fifty of just 26 deliveries and his 53-run stand between him and Marlon Samuels inside five overs rekindled hopes of a West Indies victory. World Cup cricket semi-finals: Round-up
Daniel Vettori’s outstanding catch: Daniel Vettori probably took one of the best catches of his career to dismiss Marlon Samuels. Samuels looked to smash the ball over third man for a six, but Vettori, positioned at the fence at deep point jumped and stuck his hand out. He successfully managed to hold on to the ball, much to the joy of his teammates and the crowd at Wellington.
Trent Boult’s outstanding spell: Trent Boult bowled an excellent spell of four for 44 in his 10 overs, which did the damage. McCullum decided to bowl out Boult in his first spell and he didn’t disappoint as his spell was not only economical, but also wicket-bearing. He is the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with 19 wickets to his name.
New Zealand win and qualify for semi-final: New Zealand won the match with ease and are just one step away from the big final. This is the seventh time New Zealand have made it to the semi-final of a World Cup. They will now face South Africa in the semi-final on March 24th at Auckland.
(Pramod Ananth is a reporter at CricketCountry. He has represented Karnataka table tennis under-15, and is a hardcore supporter of Liverpool FC. His Twitter handle is @pramz)
