Windies’s Second Defeat On The Bounce Leaves Pollard In Quagmire
Kieron Pollard, the West Indies captain, will be extremely concerned about how to gee up his troops following their tepid display that resulted in a hefty Twenty20 International (T20I) defeat to New Zealand today (29 November).
Pollard won the toss at the Bay Oval and elected to field on a slow pitch, having two days earlier almost single-handedly helped the Windies to victory in the opening T20I that was affected by rain in Auckland, but this time the tourists were outplayed to lose by 72 runs.
The Windies were unimpressive with the ball in this 2nd T20I, as New Zealand piled on the runs to amass 238-3 and register their third highest ever T20I total. Tim Seifert and Martin Guptill got them off to a strong start, putting on 49 for the opening wicket before Jamaica’s Rovman Powell clean bowled Seifert.
Just four runs later Guptill was caught by wicketkeeper off Jamaican spinner Fabian Allen, which propelled New Zealand to seriously up their momentum.
Devon Conway, who finished unbeaten on 65 with his maiden T20I half-century, was joined at the crease by the highly acclaimed Glenn Phillips. The pair adding a rapid 185 runs with Phillips striking a 46-ball century, but he fell to Pollard in the final over for 108 after being caught by substitute Hayden Walsh Jr.
Given a big ask to score just under 12 runs per over for victory, the Windies failed miserably as they never fired on all cylinders despite five batsmen hitting knocks of 20 or higher. The match did mark the debut of Barbados left-hander Kyle Mayers, who hit a pair of sizzling sixes to finish with 20 off 14 deliveries.
But it was Pollard who finished top scorer for the second time on the bounce. The Trinidadian continued where he left off in the previous T20I contest by smashing three sixes in an over from Mitch Santner, only to succumb to the left-arm spinner for 28 after skipper Tim Southee caught him on the boundary behind the bowler.
The Windies faltered throughout their innings, regularly losing cheap wickets. And after Powell was clean bowled by Lockie Ferguson, with the score at 132-7 in the 16th over, there was only ever going to be one winner.
Guyana’s tail-ender Keemo Paul bravely staved off the inevitable with a hat-trick of sixes to finish with an unbeaten knock of 26 from 18 balls, but the Windies finished a poor second overall.
The hosts have an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series and return to Bay Oval tomorrow. Pollard will hope that the plight of his troops can be improved for the final T20I contest, otherwise there will be some big question marks over the majority of the squad for next year’s World Cup.
New Zealand v West Indies tour
27 November
1st T20I | NZ beat WI by 5 wickets (using the DLS method)
WI 180-7 (16 overs), NZ 176-5 (15.2 overs)
Eden Park, Auckland
29 November
2nd T20I | NZ beat WI by 72 runs
NZ 238-6 (20 overs), WI 166-9 (20 overs)
Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui
30 November
3rd T20I
Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui
3-7 December
1st Test
Seddon Park, Hamilton
11-15 December
2nd Test
Basin Reserve, Wellington
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