New Zealand beat West Indies by 53 runs on Day 5 of 3rd Test; clinch series win

Tim Southee bowled well for New Zealand.

By Bharath Ramaraj

Jul 1, 2014

New Zealand won their second series in the West Indies by defeating them with a margin of 53 runs at Bridgetown, Barbados. It was also their first away series win since 2002; if we exclude Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. In 2002 too they did beat the West Indies under Stephen Fleming’s captaincy. Trent Boult was the one who took the last wicket off Jerome Taylor. He was plumb in front to a full swinging delivery from over the wicket.

Boult and Tim Southee took the wickets for New Zealand. They shared six wickets between them. For the West Indies, Jason Holder played a fine knock of 52 but that wasn’t enough to save the West Indies from defeat. Shane Shillingford also played well for them on the last day. Kane Williamson was announced as the Man of the Match.

Earlier, Brendon McCullum forced an attacking move at the start of the day, calling for a declaration with a lead of 307 in the bag. Kane Williamson’s brilliant unbeaten hundred on Day four had presented a few options for the Black Caps’ skipper. He decided to go for the kill and was handsomely rewarded right away. Trent Boult was getting the ball to move around and gave New Zealand a shot in the arm after Kraigg Brathwaite was bowled. Soon after Kirk Edwards couldn’t keep the ball down and Ross Taylor took a smart catch at gully.

The visitors could sense damage and Southee joined the party with Gayle chopping the ball onto his stumps and New Zealand were cock-a-hoop. The wise head of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, however calmed things down in the middle. The 40-year old was positive with his footwork and intent and was in no mood to hang back. Bravo got his eye in initially and then chose the bad deliveries to strike a few fours. The rain gods couldn’t have come at a better time for the Kiwis as there was a good partnership that threatened to blunt the bowling attack.

But New Zealand were patient and used the rain breaks to their advantage. The bowlers worked as a team to run through the middle order. If it was Boult with his early strikes, it was Mark Craig’s cheap dismissals and the priced wicket of Chanderpaul. Tim Southee then took over and left the hosts in total disarray.

Brief scores:

New Zealand 293 (Ross Taylor 45, Jimmy Neesham 78, Mark Craig 46*; Sulieman Benn 5 for 93, Kemar Roach 4 for 61) & 331 for 7 decl. (Kane Williamson 161*, Jimmy Neesham 51; Kemar Roach 4 for 55) beat West Indies 317 (Chris Gayle 42, Kraigg Brathwaite 68, Kirk Edwards 58; Neil Wagner 4 for 64) & 254 (Jason Holder 52, Darren Bravo 40; Trent Boult 3 for 48, Tim Southee 3 for 28) by 53 runs.

Man of the Match: Kane Williamson

Man of the Series: Kane Williamson

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)