New Zealand 238 of 3 (Phillips 108, Conway 65 *, Pollard 1-33) beat West Indies 166 of 9 (Pollard 28, Paul 26 *, Jamieson 2-15, Santner 2-41) for 72 runs
New Zealand capitalized on a virtuous performance by Glenn Phillips, who broke a 46-ball century, the fastest in T20I by a New Zealander, to take a 2-0 lead in the T20I series. The highlight, aside from his century, was a record 183-run partnership with Devon Conway (65 not out) for the third wicket.
Bowlers and outfielders backed the hitting effort, where New Zealand racked up its third-highest total in the format, excellently. Phillips helped himself to a fantastic direct hit, launching himself from cover point to rush out to Andre Fletcher, and two catches, one of which dove to his right after sprinting from the middle of the deep wicket at full speed towards long to get rid of newcomer Kyle Mayers.
New Zealand spinners Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi, the latter joining the team at Hamish Bennett’s expense, applied the choke. They used a slow pitch and bright sunshine, in contrast to the rain and spittle of the first half of the match, to their advantage to hamper the West Indies response in the middle, after Kyle Jamieson and Lockie Ferguson had made inroads. early. Substitute captain Tim Southee and Jimmy Neesham, the other two employed bowlers, also collected grounds in a near-perfect performance.
A strong start with the ball
Rains throughout the morning delayed the launch by 25 minutes. When conditions were deemed good enough for play, Kieron Pollard chose to go bowling. Early exchanges indicated a lack of pace and rebounding on the wicket, with Martin Guptill and Tim Seifert needing to generate their own rhythm against an early discipline from Sheldon Cottrell in particular. However, Pollard himself set the tone for a poor fielding performance from his side, allowing a high Guptill to propel Mayers brushing his fingers into the middle of the base and fleeing for four.
Pollard decided to contain Cottrell after two overs by just 7, perhaps emboldened by the way Oshane Thomas had Seifert play on his stumps, attempting a paddle shot, with two balls remaining in the powerplay. Four balls later, Guptill went down with a tickle on the side of Fabian Allen’s leg, and New Zealand found themselves 53 of 2, with a rebuilding job for Conway and Phillips.
The association that took the game
With a persistent drizzle hovering over the Bay Oval, Pollard decided to ration his specialty bowlers’ fees so overs would not be cut, putting himself and Rovman Powell on part time. He allowed Conway and Phillips to play alone, running hard after putting the ball between gaps in the outfield.
Once Phillips racked up nine of the first nine balls he faced, he waited for a slower ball from Pollard and tossed it over the deep square leg to get his first six, from where there was no turning back. Phillips finished 108 of 51, 88 of whom were in bounds, including eight sixes, and they scored across the field.
With strong forearms, electric bat speed, and decisive footwork, he drove, shot and slashed with poison as the West Indies’ shoulders began to sag, allowing for field errors and a general lack of discipline on the part of the players. bowling. Conway was the perfect complement, going a bit more of a run-a-ball, before exploding in the final overs.
There was a 22-minute rain interruption shortly after Phillips climbed fifty, but how well Phillips and Conway accelerated can be measured by the fact that 84-for-2 at the 10 plus mark doubled over the next six. No pitcher was spared: Allen’s left-arm spin traveled for 24 at 13, Phillips followed up for three straight sixs with a bold four-way switch.
Phillips offered a shot at 88, ramming Pollard long and wide on Cottrell’s last over, the 17th in the inning, but it was a complete pitch that found himself above waist high with the batter deep inside. of the fold. In the same change, Cottrell had intentionally knuckle-ball on a rebound to Shimron Hetmyer in the third short man, and finished with none for 40 of his four overs.
Phillips had his kneecap popped out again in the last over, a repeat of the strange injury he suffered on Friday, and after receiving a bit of treatment, he hopped to target Pollard, but by then he had eclipsed the record for Colin Munro. for the fastest T20I ton of a New Zealander, celebrating the milestone with a jump, a roar and arms outstretched. By the time he left to a well-deserved applause, he and Conway had put New Zealand in a dominant position with the largest no-start partnership in T20I, and the highest for New Zealand.
Killing the chase early
Fletcher pulled 10 of Southee’s first over, but Jamieson came in and hit Brandon King with the first ball he threw. Hetmyer came in at all three, but struggled to go against the pace, and Fletcher was beaten by some clever fielding from Phillips.
Ferguson entered and in his first over accelerated the pace of 150 km / h. He also pinged Hetmyer on the helmet with a sharp gorilla that the latter didn’t have time to respond to. Mayers, promoted to four, hit a pair of six in a row, one off Santner and Neesham, before perishing to a superb outfield catch by Phillips off the latter. Nicholas Pooran tried to lead the attack to Santner, but ended up overcoming a deliberate blow over the middle of the gate and caught a return catch.
The West Indies’ last hopes rested on Pollard, who ran 28-for-14 after hitting Santner for six successive over coverage, long distance and half deep, but then went for another shot further, only to for Southee to complete. a smart catch, staying clear of the ropes.
There were some lustful punches at the end of Keemo Paul’s piece, eventually taking him to second leading scorer at 26 * ahead of Hetmyer’s disappointing 25 of 32, but it was New Zealand who sped it all up with bat, ball and finally field. The third and final T20I will be played at Mount Maunganui on Monday, with Santner replacing the captain, as the test regulars on the New Zealand team will leave to prepare for the series.
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