New Zealand dismissed West Indies danger man Chris Gayle for 61 with pacer Adam Milne bowling the dangerous left-hander off the inside edge after a typically pugnacious 33-ball innings from the Jamaican that featured two fours and eight sixes. Gayle’s departure left the West Indies struggling at 120/5.
Earlier, Guptill bludgeoned his way to the highest individual World Cup knock as New Zealander rode on the opener’s swashbuckling 237 to record an imposing 393/6.Guptill scored his runs off 163 balls, becoming the first New Zealander to post a double century in ODIs and the fifth in the world. He was unbeaten when the innings ended.
He smashed 24 fours and 11 sixes after New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum opted to bat.
Such was Guptill’s onslaught that the hosts reached from 300 to 350 in just 16 balls. The batsman got to his double ton off 152 balls with the help of 21 fours and eight sixes.Earlier luck was on Guptill’s side as Marlon Samuels couldn’t hold on to a low chance at short-leg in the third ball of the innings bowled by Jerome Taylor. There
After getting his eye in, Williamson was lured into going for a false shot by Andre Russell’s slower delivery, bringing
in Taylor to the crease.
While the West Indies captain Jason Holder tried different bowling options, the two experienced Kiwi batsmen looked at ease milking runs during a third-wicket partnership that yielded the Black Caps 143 runs in 22.3 overs.
After getting to his seventh ODI century with a single to long-on, Guptill upped the ante and smashed the West Indies to all parts of the ground. He reached his ton in 111 balls.
The 28-year-old launched into Darren Sammy for a massive six to start the onslaught, collected two fours and a six off Taylor, and kept finding the ropes against the likes of Holder and Suleiman Benn to reach his 150 off 135 balls.
What set Guptill’s knock apart in the age of slam bang hitting was that he scored his runs playing orthodox cricketing shots, and that at a good rate.
Just before that, Taylor (42) was run out owing to a misunderstanding, but the batsman did not seem to mind with Guptill in such fine fettle. Taylor found the fence two times during his 61-ball knock.
Meanwhile, Guptill smashed 27 runs in the 45th over bowled by Holder, clobbering the medium pacer for three sixes and a boundary.
The first of the three maximums helped him go past Glenn Turner as the highest scorer in World Cup match by a New Zealander. Turner had scored 171 against East Africa in the inaugural edition of the tournament in 1975.
Guptill then picked up 18 off Russell to propel New Zealand to 328 for four. The last over went for 20 with Guptill hitting two more sixes and a four. Before that, Taylor seventh and the innings’ 49th over gave New Zealand 16 runs.Of all the West Indies bowlers, Russell was the worst sufferer conceding 96 runs in 10 overs.
Captain’s view
Posted at07:53
West Indies captain Jason Holder on TMS:Â “It’s quite disappointing, we came into this game with high hopes. Martin Guptill took the game away from us with his 200 and we didn’t bowl well in the death overs. 393 is a big score but it was a good wicket and I thought we could have put up a better fight.
“I hope it’s not the end of Chris Gayle’s international career but that’s up to Chris. We’ve been away from home for a long time and so many guys are mentally and physically tired. We’ll have a well-deserved rest before the Test series against England.”
