In the first Twenty20 International on Wednesday, West Indies defeated New Zealand by a slim margin of seven runs at Eden Park in Auckland, despite Mitchell Santner’s late blitz (28-ball 55*) being in vain. Roston Chase’s all-around performance (28 & 3-26), supported by Shai Hope’s half-century and Jayden Seales’s three wickets, set the stage for the triumph.
When West Indies were put to bat, they lost Brandon King in the first over and got off to a rough start. Both Hope and Alick Athanaze took a little to get going, but the latter broke free late in the fourth over, hitting a six and two boundaries to give the innings some pace before dying shortly after.
Hope was able to score a boundary or a six almost every over, but New Zealand managed to control the pace of the innings for a considerable amount of time, holding the visitors to 66 for 3 at the halfway point.
But in the second half, West Indies scored 164 for 6 with to a late flourish from Chase and Rovman Powell. The stoppy aspect of the two-paced pitch was concerning, despite the fact that the total was mediocre and something that New Zealand was content to accept. The West Indies made good use of that.
Devon Conway and Tim Robinson scored thirty runs in the opening three overs as New Zealand got off to a strong start, but the visitors swiftly recovered. Robinson received an edge to sweeper cover after Conway was cleaned up.
Throughout the middle overs, Chase, Akeal Hosein, and Seales continued to strike often, reducing New Zealand to 88 for 6. New Zealand was reduced to 108 for 9 halfway through the 17th over after James Neesham was dropped on 3 but was unable to take advantage of the opportunity, holing out to long off less than two overs later.
Santner tried the improbable when all prospects of winning were crushed. He destroyed the West Indian pacers by hitting three consecutive boundaries off Jason Holder in the next over after hammering Matthew Forde for four boundaries and a six. Romario Shepherd hit two straight dots with 19 required off the final over. After hitting a six off the third delivery, Santner was unable to score any more runs for the remainder of the over, allowing the visitors to escape with an exciting victory.
Brief Scores: West Indies 164/6 in 20 overs (Shai Hope 55, Rovman Powell 33; Jacob Duffy 2-19) beat New Zealand 157/9 in 20 overs (Mitchell Santner 55*, Tim Robinson 27; Roston Chase 3-26, Jayden Seales 3-32) by 7 runs
