Kiwis out after Super Over failure

Cricket365
October 1, 2012

New Zealand were knocked out of the World Twenty20 on Monday after losing in thrilling circumstances to the West Indies, the match going into a Super Over after the scores were tied at 139.

The Windies batted first and made 139 all out, a dramatic collapse damaging their chances of putting up a decent score. But the Black Caps could not chase the total, thanks to Sunil Narine's efforts at the death, and an elimination over was needed.

The Kiwis batted first, with skipper Ross Taylor continuing on from his 62 not out in the match proper, and they made 17 runs off Marlon Samuels. He then took his turn with the bat alongside Chris Gayle, and a massive six of the penultimate ball of Tim Southee's over to secure the win.

The West Indies innings earlier in the day started shakily as Doug Bracewell took two early wickets, but Gayle and Samuels combined to push the score to 60 for two at the end of the powerplay overs, and they looked on track for a good score.

Wickets tumbled from then on though, as Nathan McCullum took two wickets, Bracewell three and Southee another three. They could never get going properly, and only Kieron Pollard's 28 added respectability to the score as they were all out with three balls to go.

The Black Caps started poorly, with opener Rob Nicol's poor form continuing as he was trapped plumb in front by Ravi Rampaul with the score on eight. Brendon McCullum followed soon after for 22, bowled by Samuel Badree while stepping down the pitch.

At the end of the 10th over, the Kiwis were behind the rate on 56 for three, Martin Guptill having departed in that over, caught by Samuels off Sammy's bowling, having just got set but trying to push the pace.

Taylor and James Franklin put on 33 together in four overs, with both men hitting sixes, but Franklin fell for 14 in the 13th over. Gayle took a superb one-handed catch in the slips off Narine, leaving the Kiwis on 85 for four and needing to go at eight runs per over.

Taylor reached his fifty in the 19th over off 32 balls, but he was not paying much attention to that as he still needed 15 runs off 10 balls. Narine struck with the next ball, with Charles catching Nathan McCullum on the boundary.

With the final over to go, the Kiwis needed 14 runs off four balls to go ahead of England on the run rate. The final over was given to Marlon Samuels, who had not bowled in the game yet.

Taylor hit a six with nine runs off three balls required, and then they took a single, leaving two runs to go off one ball. The batsmen tried to go for two, but Dwayne Smith scored a direct hit run out and the scores were tied, sending the game into a Super Over.

Samuels was astonishingly given the task of bowling the decisive six balls instead of Narine, with Taylor and B-Mac the batsmen for the Kiwis. They scored 17 runs, including a massive six, as Taylor showed his class.

It was a tough ask, and Southee was the bowler nominated to stop the charge from Gayle and Samuels. Southee bowled a no-ball off the first ball, which Gayle hit for a huge six, and resulting in a free hit. They accumulated some more runs via singles, and with four needed off two balls, Samuels hit a six to end the game.

New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Rob Nicol, Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor, James Franklin, Jacob Oram, Doug Bracewell, Ronnie Hira, Nathan McCullum, Tim Southee, Kyle Mills

West Indies: Johnson Charles, Chris Gayle, Darren Bravo, Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, Denesh Ramdin, Darren Sammy, Sunil Narine, Ravi Rampaul, Samuel Badree