New Zealand beat West Indies by five wickets

by Julian Guyer

Monday, July 5, 2004

CARDIFF, Wales (AFP): New Zealand all but booked themselves a place in the NatWest Series final with a five-wicket win against the West Indies at Sophia Gardens here Saturday.

Only a freak combination of results can now deny Stephen Fleming's men a place in the July 10 Lord's showpiece of this one-day international triangular event and they will qualify Sunday if they beat England at Bristol.

Chasing 217, New Zealand won with four overs to spare thanks to an unobtrusive 75 not out from Hamish Marshall, the 25-year-old man-of-the match's sixth fifty in 19 one-day internationals.

Marshall faced 119 balls with just three fours. Chris Cairns ended the match when he hit his first ball, from Jermaine Lawson, for four.

"I suppose 250 would have been a good score," Marshall told reporters afterwards. "But knowing you only have to go at just over four an over for most of the innings means you can set it up and keep wickets in hand.

"It was what the series needed - a decent game, longer than 60 overs or so," added Marshall after several lopsided contests.

The Black Caps' victory continued a pattern which had seen all completed matches in the series won by the team batting second.

West Indies, who lost the toss, appeared to be bucking the trend at 180 for three in the 37th over.

But good bowling allied to naive batting saw them lose their last seven wickets for 36 runs in 60 balls despite half-centuries from captain Brian Lara (58), who promoted himself to the top of the order, and Ramnaresh Sarwan (54).

Experienced seam bowler Cairns (three for 29) and series debutant Ian Butler (three for 41) led the Kiwi attack.

Lara, 35, explaining his decision to open in a one-day international for the first time since 1999, said: "First of all, we are not playing two genuine openers.

"(Shivnarine) Chanderpaul is a makeshift opener, a guy who normally bats in the middle, and we weren't getting exactly what we wanted up front.

"We needed to have a positive approach up front, lay a foundation and see if the guys in the middle could carry on," the left-hander explained.

"At 180 for three you would expect, with 13 overs to go, even if you get a run-a-ball you'd be up to 250 plus."

He added he could not understand why so many players were reluctant to open in one-dayers. "You've got time to bat normally and if you are a Test batsman you should appreciate the opportunity to do that."

West Indies conceded 35 extras, including 25 wides, and Lara was critical of his attack's inaccuracy.

"You can't be defending 217 runs and expect to give away so much, especially in wides."

The tone for New Zealand's reply was set first ball when Lawson's no ball was square-cut for four by New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming.

However, on 45, Fleming's miscued pull saw him caught and bowled by Dwayne Bravo.

Medium-pacer Bravo, the competition's leading wicket-taker, then had his eighth dismissal of the tourmanent when Craig McMillan (22) was brilliantly caught right-handed by a diving Lara at mid-off.

Earlier Lara, on 26, saw a sliced drive off Cairns dropped one-handed at backward point by McMillan.

He reached fifty in style with a straight six off paceman Jacob Oram.

His half-century came in just 53 balls with 42 runs (a six and nine fours) coming in boundaries.

But Lara, having scored at a run-a-ball, was deceived by Cairns's slower ball and was well caught by Fleming, diving forward, at mid-on.

Final scoreboard:

West Indies
C. Gayle c Hopkins b Cairns 27
B. Lara c Fleming b Cairns 58
R. Sarwan c Fleming b Cairns 54
S. Chanderpaul c Hopkins b Butler 21
D. Bravo c Astle b Styris 15
R. Powell c and b Butler 7
D. Smith run out 10
C. Baugh c Hopkins b Franklin 3
I. Bradshaw run out 0
T. Best not out 1
J. Lawson b Butler 4
Extras (lb5, w5, nb6) 16
Total (10 wkts, 46.2 overs) 216

Fall of wickets: 1-83, 2-92, 3-132, 4-180, 5-190, 6-199, 7-207, 8-208, 9-212, 10-216
Bowling: Oram 10-0-43-0; Franklin 6-0-37-1 (2nb, 3w); Cairns 8-1-29-3 (1nb, 1w); Vettori 8-0-36-0 (1w); Butler 8.2-0-41-3 (3nb, 1w); Styris 6-0-25-1;

New Zealand
S. Fleming c and b Bravo 45
N. Astle c Chanderpaul b Lawson 19
H. Marshall not out 75
S. Styris b Bravo 3
C. McMillan c Lara b Bravo 22
J. Oram c Gayle b Lawson 17
C. Cairns not out 4
Extras (lb5, w25, nb5) 35
Total (5 wkts, 46 overs) 220

Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-114, 3-121, 4-176, 5-216
Did not bat: G Hopkins, D Vettori, I Butler, J Franklin
Bowling: Lawson 10-1-56-2 (3nb, 4w); Bradshaw 10-1-34-0 (1w); Best 8-0-48-0 (1nb, 6w); Bravo 8-0-36-3 (1nb, 2w); Smith 7-0-30-0; Gayle 3-0-11-0;
Toss: New Zealand

Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (RSA), David Shepherd (ENG)
TV umpire: Nigel Llong (ENG)
Match referee: Gundappa Viswanath (IND)

Result: New Zealand won by 5 wkts

Table in the NatWest Series triangular cricket tournament after Saturday's one-day international between New Zealand and the West Indies here at Sophia Gardens (played, won, lost, tied, no result, points, run-rate):

New Zealand 4 2 0 0 2 17 1.93
West Indies 4 1 2 0 1 10 -0.51
England 4 1 2 0 1 9 -0.77

Remaining fixtures
July 04: England v New Zealand, Bristol
July 06: England v West Indies, Lord's
July 08: New Zealand v West Indies, Southampton
July 10: Final, Lord's

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