West Indies Seal Series Win in Warner Park Thriller

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Published on Saturday, 14 July 2012 22:54

Written by Jacque Bryan

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Basseterre, St. Kitts:  The Road March song “Step pon dem” by Grandmasters blared out over the speakers at the picturesque Warner Park, in St. Kitts, as soon as the West Indies sealed the game and the five match series, taking an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five match series, with a thrilling victory Saturday.

It was a noisy, colorful, heart –warming scene in the twilight with music pumping and some 3000 people jumping when the final New Zealand wicket fell in the final over.

The match was a cliffhanger and could have gone either way.

West Indies won the toss and chose to bat in cloudy, overcast conditions, after overnight rain delayed the start of play by 15 minutes.

When the game started at 9.45am, conditions were ideal for bowling - the ball was seaming, swinging and bouncing.

The West Indies top order didn’t cope very well and the team lost three wickets for 20 runs after just six overs, but steady batting from Marlon Samuels (46 runs), Kieron Pollard (56 runs) and wicketkeeper Devon Thomas (37 runs) helped the team to get to post a competitive 264 in their 50 overs.

New Zealand were off to a brisk start but were pegged back by Tino Best who bowled with pace and enthusiasm to pick up 4 wickets for 46 runs off 10 overs. Sunil Narine was the pick of the crop though with figures of 2 for 20 off 10. He effectively throttled the New Zealand batsmen and kept West Indies in the game even as the rampaging Ross Taylor scored a fine century and menaced the West Indies.

Ross Taylor made a magnificent 110 on return to his team and always looked dangerous. It was a fine performance from the New Zealand team.  They were competitive today after winning Frida's game handsomely and were playing to draw level with the West Indies.

But the West Indies held their nerves today and brought home the proverbial bacon much to the delight of their fans at the Warner Park Grounds in St Kitts and Nevis.

Final scores in the match: West Indies 264 off 49.5 overs.

New Zealand 240 all out in 49.3 overs.

The West Indies have won this series. The first series win against another test playing nation other than Bangladesh and Zimbabwe in four years.

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