Sherfane Rutherford hit a sublime unbeaten 68 as West Indies fought back to beat New Zealand by 13 runs to book their place in the T20 World Cup Super 8s.
The co-hosts were in trouble at 22-4 when Rutherford came to the crease and continued to struggle for much of the innings, slumping to 30-5 and 76-7. But Rutherford kept his cool and timed his onslaught to perfection as he took 37 from the last two overs of the innings to lift West Indies to 149-9 in Trinidad.
That proved to be more than enough on a two-paced surface as New Zealand fell away in the middle overs of the chase.
Fast bowler Alzarri Joseph took 4-19 and left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie 3-25 as the Black Caps, after some late hitting from Glenn Phillips and Mitchell Santner, ended on 136-9.
While the Windies can look forward to the next stage of a home tournament, back-to-back defeats leave New Zealand’s qualification hopes hanging by a thread. They must now beat Uganda and Papua New Guinea in their remaining games and hope other results go their way.
They could be eliminated before they play again if Afghanistan beat Papua New Guinea on Friday.
Prior to the match, the atmosphere at the Brian Lara Academy was one of excitement and anticipation after two victories to start the tournament for the home side.
Six overs later, it had all fallen rather flat as the Windies’ top order was dismantled by New Zealand’s high class and highly experienced new-ball attack, led by Trent Boult.
In the next 12 overs, the locals were stirred occasionally, but whenever the West Indies appeared to be gaining momentum, a wicket fell.
Rutherford had scored only 20 after facing 21 balls but having seen his teammates come in, hit a boundary or two and swiftly get out, he knew he had to bide his time.
It was only when the ninth wicket went down that he really let loose, justifying his decision to turn down a single from the first ball of the 19th over by hitting three of the next four for six.
Two fours and another maximum off Santner followed in the last over, and from hoping to claw their way to 120, the Windies had surged to within touching distance of 150.
It was much more of a team effort with the ball but Joseph and Motie claimed the key wickets. Joseph removed Finn Allen after the opener’s quick start before Motie took the scalps of Kane Williamson and Rachin Ravindra in his first two overs. He then bowled Daryl Mitchell with a beauty in his third to put West Indies firmly on top.
Phillips briefly threatened to provide the game with another twist but Joseph put an end to that as the West Indies closed in on the win.
But as Santner clubbed a trio of sixes in the last over, sharply reducing the margin of victory, the value of Rutherford’s knock was made all the clearer.
Rutherford, Player of the Match, said: “I was telling myself to take it deep and keep rotating the strike. I knew if I started to feel the momentum I could always make up at the end. It is only the start of something big to come and hopefully we can keep winning and the momentum going.”
West Indies captain Rovman Powell hailed Rutherford’s performance.
“We knew someone would have to play a blinder because we knew it wouldn’t be an easy wicket because of the inclement weather that we’ve had,” he said. “We believe individual brilliance is needed in T20 cricket sometimes and it was a fantastic knock from Sherfane Rutherford.”
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson admitted that his squad “had an inkling” it would be tough going against the West Indies and Rutherford had made life even harder.
“The quality of Sherfane Rutherford’s innings was of the highest. It was incredibly impressive and frustrating for us,” he said. (BBC)
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