Sherfane Rutherford rescued the West Indies with the bat and their bowlers contained New Zealand to complete a 13-run victory in a Group C match of the T20 World Cup in Trinidad on Wednesday.
Rutherford’s unbeaten 68 off 39 balls (two fours, six sixes) lifted the home side from the depths of 30 for five in the seventh over to a competitive 149 for nine after they were put in.
Thrashed in their opening match by Afghanistan in Guyana and therefore in a virtual must-win situation, the Black Caps never developed any momentum in the chase in being restricted to 136 for nine.
Photo: AP
Pacer Alzarri Joseph (four for 19) and spinners Gudakesh Motie (three for 25) and Akeal Hosein (one for 21) kept the home side in control to clinch their third consecutive victory and a place in the Super Eight phase of the competition with one group match still to come against Afghanistan on Monday in St Lucia.
Only Glenn Phillips (40 off 33 balls) caused any real worries for the West Indies, but when he fell to Joseph in the 18th over the match was effectively over as a contest, despite Mitchell Santner belting three sixes off Romario Shepherd in the final over.
This second consecutive setback effectively ends New Zealand’s hopes of advancing out of the group stage, unless other results can contrive to work in their favor.
Photo: AP
“Keeping it simple and backing my skills, I think that was the key,” Rutherford said in explaining his formula for success on the night after receiving the “Man of the Match” award.
“Looking at their bowling line-up I knew they were short two overs and I told myself to just be there at the end to make the most of it... And I thought I did that,” he added.
Rutherford received invaluable support from the lower order, adding 28 with Akeal Hosein for the sixth wicket, 27 with Romario Shepherd for the eighth and then plundered all 37 runs in the last two overs of the innings, bowled by Daryl Mitchell and Santner, with last man Motie happy to look on from the non-striker’s end.
Earlier, Trent Boult led New Zealand’s much-improved, finishing with the excellent figures of three for 16. Lockie Ferguson and the recalled Tim Southee complemented that effort with two wickets each as the 2021 beaten finalists looked much sharper in the field than against the Afghans.
“We knew it was going to be difficult to get runs on this wicket which is why the quality of Sherfane’s innings was of the highest,” acknowledged losing captain Williamson. “We took a decision to try to bowl them out, but unfortunately it didn’t come up for us today.”
After victories over Papua New Guinea and Uganda at the Guyana National Stadium, West Indies’ batting seemed unprepared for the challenge, until Rutherford intervened to transform what was shaping up as an abject capitulation.
“It is good that, after finding ourselves in so much trouble early on, the guys dug deep and we were able to pull this one out,” West Indies captain Rovman Powell said.
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
RSS