West Indies becomes the fourth team to be qualified for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8 round after their victory against New Zealand at Trinidad. Apart from the West Indies, South Africa, India, and Australia qualified for the Super 8 of the 2024 T20 World Cup.
West Indies Qualified for Super 8 Round
In the West Indies victory against NZ, Sherfane Rutherford played a crucial role with the bat while Alzarri Joseph and Gudakesh Motie played a vital role in strangling New Zealand batters while chasing.
At the start of the game, New Zealand bowlers strangled West Indies batters by bagging the first five wickets for just 30 runs.
After West Indies’ batters failed one after the other, Sherfane dragged his team towards a safer zone with his classy fifty. Apart from Sherfane, none of the West Indies batters touched the 20-run mark.
With his unbeaten 68, West Indies ended their inning with a decent score of 149 for nine wickets. At one point in the game, West Indies were in a position where reaching the triple-digit mark seemed impossible after their star batters’ failures.
An innings of the highest order – 68* (39) 🙌🏻#SherfaneRutherford‘s meaty blows towards the end have brought West Indies back into the game and HOW! 🔥#WIvNZ | LIVE NOW | #T20WorldCupOnStar pic.twitter.com/fSta9DbdBd
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) June 13, 2024
Speaking of the match, New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl first. Brandon King and Johnson Charles made the opening on behalf of West Indies. Trent Boult who bowled the first over of the inning strikes earlier and dismissed Johnson Charles for five ball duck.
Following his dismissal, West Indies made a steady inning but Tim Southee who was included in the playing 11 as the replacement player for Henry bagged his first wicket by dismissing Pooran for 17 runs.
In the very next over, Ferguson dismissed Roston Chase for three ball duck while Southee strikes again in the next over and dismissed Powell for just 1 run.
West Indies managed to score only 23 runs and lost four wickets in the first powerplay. West Indies opening batter Brandon King who showed some confidence with his bat was dismissed by Neesham in the third delivery of the 7th over.
Brandon struck a six in his previous delivery and registered the first maximum of the match.
At the end of seven overs, West Indies scored 32 runs for five wickets and made a terrible start. The hosts managed to maintain a partnership till the 10th over and added just 17 runs without losing any furthermore wickets.
Sherfane Rutherford and Akeal Hosein started to build the partnership while Kiwi bowlers started to search for loopholes to break the threatening partnership.
Kane Williamson made a smart move by introducing Mitchell Santner after 10 overs which paid off for New Zealand. Santner made the breakthrough by dismissing Hosein in his very first over.
Following his dismissal, dangerous Russell made his way onto the pitch to make his 500th T20 appearance. With nearly nine more overs left to bowl, New Zealand bowlers need to dismiss Russell to restrict the run flow.
Boult in the 13th over dismissed Russell for 14 and brought back New Zealand into the game. But Sherfane Rutherford with his half-century dragged West Indies towards a safer zone.
Rutherford scored 19 runs off the 19th over bowled by Daryl Mitchell to bring up his fifty. In the final over, Rutherford struck a couple of boundaries and a maximum and ended the inning with a score of 149.
New Zealand on the other hand made a struggling start in their 140 plus run chase inning. As of their first game, New Zealand’s opening batters failed to make an impressive partnership.
Conway lost his wicket for 5 while Finn Allen was dismissed for 26 runs. Following the duo’s dismissal, captain Kane Williamson was expected to make a match-winning knock but failed to withstand Motie’s bowling attack.
Soon Rachin Ravindra too lost his wicket to Motie and returned pavilion without making an impact on the scoreboard.
Gudakesh Motie and Alzarri Joseph with their impressive bowling spell kept New Zealand batters at bay. Glenn Phillips made some crucial shots and built some confidence but Alzarri Joseph scattered those by dismissing him in the 18th over.
At the end of 20 overs, New Zealand managed to score just 136 runs for 9 wickets and fell 13 runs short.
