New Zealand vs West Indies- quick flicks of the day

Gangnam style!

New Zealand would be cursing their Gods for sure. Two super overs and two losses. It must be a really hard time for the team as well as the fans watching their team being knocked in such an uncanny fashion. But I guess they have only themselves to blame, the match should have been over in the allotted 20 overs. Ross Taylor played a brilliant knock of 62 but just couldn’t get much support from his colleagues. Also Narine’s last two overs were brilliant, giving away just 5 runs and taking a wicket. New Zealand were cruising until Narine put some serious breaks on the scoring rate.

West Indies were off to a flyer with Gayle smashing the ball to all corners of the park. Southee dismissed him with an offcutter and then the innings just fell apart. Wickets fell at regular intervals and the initial momentum just couldn’t be sustained by the middle order. They managed a total of 139, which on this pitch was a below par score

New Zealand’s batting revolved around Taylor. Only B. Mcculum provided him with some support at the top, but other than that it was a one man show. West Indies did a great job with the ball, not allowing the Kiwis to run away with the game. The fielding was sharp too.

Narine bowled a superb penultimate over and the Kiwis were left with 14 to score off the final over. Sammy handed the ball to Samuels and he somehow managed to give away just 13. 2 were required off the last ball and Bracewell couldn’t complete a second run, thereby giving us another super over to cherish.

To the surprise of many Samuels, and not Narine, was handed the responsibility of bowling the super over. Taylor clobbered him for a six over mid wicket and the Kiwis managed 17 off that over. Out came Gayle and Samuels. Southee was battered for a six over long-off, that too off a no ball. West Indies scored 8 of the first ball and then it was easy pickings for them. Samuels ended the match with a six over mid-wicket much to the agony of the Kiwis.

There were a lot of special moments and key takeaways from this highly entertaining encounter

1) The first ball no ball

The Kiwis started the T20 game as well as the super over by overstepping. Mills overstepped by a mile and Southee just couldn’t handle the pressure of the super over. Luckily for Mills, the no ball didn’t cost much but Southee, in a way, threw away New Zealand’s potential semi final spot as 8 runs came off that one ball.

2) Gayle’s 300th T20 six

The six hitting machine Gayle deposited his 300th six into the crowd when he hit Jacob Oram for a huge one over the deep square leg boundary.

3) The bad bounce

New Zealand were cruising along with just 41 required of the last 5 overs. Sammy was then hit for a monstrous six over mid wicket. The next delivery Taylor flicked him to fine leg, Russel had very little time to judge whether to go for the catch or not, in the end he decided not to go for it but received a bad bounce and the ball ran away for a boundary.

4) Ross Taylor- the sole warrior

Ross Taylor played a captain’s knock(62 0ff 40) in a crunch game but just couldn’t push his team over the line.

5) Narine the game changer

There were many questions raised about Narine’s form. People had started to wonder if the mystery had been finally resolved. Narine answered them in grand fashion bowling two brilliant overs at the death giving away just 5 runs and taking a wicket as well. The batsman just couldn’t score off him.

6) Sammy’s bold decision

All the spectators and even the New Zealand batsman were expecting Narine to bowl the super over but to the surprise of many, Samuels was handed the ball. He wasn’t even ready to bowl the final over in the first place, so it was really fascinating to see Sammy handing him the ball. Thankfully, it did not cost the West Indies a place in the semi final, or serious questions would have been raised.