New Zealand beat West Indies by 12 runs via Duckworth Lewis Method in 1st T20I at Roseau

Brendon McCullum played well for New Zealand.

By Bharath Ramaraj

Jul 6, 2014

New Zealand won their rain marred first Twenty20 International (T20I) against the West Indies via the Duckworth Lewis (D/L) method.  After 15 overs, New Zealand were 117 for four in comparison to the D/L par score of 105. For New Zealand, Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor played good hands. Darren Sammy took three wickets for the West Indies. However, both their spinners; Sunil Narine and Samuel Badree couldn’t strike. It has to be said that New Zealand batsmen mainly looked to milk both spinners, as they were chasing a modest target of 133 runs.

Earlier, West Indies could only score 132 runs for the loss of eight wickets against New Zealand in what turned out to be a rain interrupted T20I at Roseaw. It was New Zealand skipper, McCullum, who won the toss and elected to bowl.

For the West Indies,  Andre Fletcher known for his power-hitting scored a half century. Darren Bravo looked in fine touch before succumbing to Corey Anderson’s medium pace bowling.The opening pair of Tim Southee and Trent Boult took two wickets each by bowling incisively.

West Indies would have been disappointed with the score, as with their line-up they would have expected to do better. It has to be remembered that the outfield was slow due to persistent rain and two overs were taken off their allotted 20 overs.

Even when Andre Fletcher and Darren Bravo essayed sixes, the Windies didn’t seem like posting a good total on the board.  West Indies’ batting effort seemed to be all out either block or smash it for a six. There wasn’t enough rotation of strike on view and that might have led to them losing the game.

Brief scores:

West Indies 132 for 8 in 20 overs (Andre Fletcher 52, Darren Bravo 30; Tim Southee 2 for 20) lost to New Zealand 117 for 4 in 15 overs (Brendon McCullum 40, Ross Taylor 28*; Darren Sammy 3 for 22) by 12 runs via Duckworth Lewis Method.

Man of the Match: Andre Fletcher

Full Scorecard

(Bharath Ramaraj, an MBA in marketing, eats, drinks and sleeps cricket. He has played at school and college-level, and now channelises his passion for the game by writing about it)