New Zealand and West Indies Register Wins

Thank god there were no Strategic timeouts, Blimps, Citi Moments, DLF maximums or Coach’s call interrupting cricket match. There were Kammal Catches but not Karboon Kammal. After razmataz of IPL season, T20 World Cup got underway in Guyana last night. The opener between New Zealand and Sri Lanka was a low scoring game but had a nail biting finish – a perfect start to tournament. In the end New Zealand emerged victorious and won by 2 wickets in 20^th over.

Pitches in West Indies are slow assisting spinners and medium pace bowlers. And as expected, Vettori asked off-spinner Nathan Macullum to open the attack. As in IPL Dilshan looked out of form and struggled to make any contact with ball. He took 19 balls for his 3 before getting out in 6^th over. On the other hand Jayawardene continued with his terrific form that he showed in IPL and scored 81 runs from 51 balls. Jayawardene played some classic strokes in his 81.

At one stage Lanka looked to set a target above 150 but lost wickets in death overs and fell short by 10-15 runs. Apart from Jayawardene, debutant Chandimal played his part and scored 29 from 23 balls. Surprisingly Jayasuriya came into bat at number 7 and didn’t get opportunity to face a single ball.

Mathews provided a perfect start for Lanka and bowled a wicket maiden. He got rid of dangerous Brendon Mcullum in the very first over. But thereafter Ryder and Guptill put 62 on board. Ryder scored 42 in 27 balls and hit two huge sixes. Once Ryder got out, New Zealand kept on losing wickets at regular interval. In last four overs they needed 41 runs. Oram hit Mendis for consecutive sixes on last two balls of 17^th over. Malinga bowled 18th over and conceded only 6 runs. New Zealand lost Oram when they needed 20 from 12 balls. Hopkins got run out on next ball. Lanka got 2 wickets in 19^th over but conceded 10 runs.

It was Malinga to ball last over and NZ needed 10 runs. After scoring 6 runs on first 3 balls, on 4^th ball Vettori sacrificed his wicket to give strike to Nathan Macullum who had smacked a four on previous ball. And He finished the match in style by hitting a six over long-off on 5^th ball. Sangakkara’s bad run as captain of T20 side continues. He looked out of place while leading Punjab in IPL and even yesterday he did not use his resources to the capacity. Jayasuriya bated at number 7, Mathews was given only 2 overs in which he had conceded only 7 runs. For NZ everybody chipped in with ball and bat but it was Nathan Macullum who’s all rounder show won a Man of the Match for him.

In second match of the day, host West Indies won a battle against minnows Ireland comfortably. Though they missed services of Gayle who did not play due to stiff neck it was an easy win for them. West Indies put on 138 on board with a little contribution from everyone. All rounder Darren Sammy was the highest scorer. He scored 30 from 17 balls. Whereas, in Ireland’s 68 runs extras contributed maximum and only one player managed to get to double figure. Rampaul and Sammy took 3 wickets each.

Two low scoring games gives an indication of what is in store. Most of scores will be in the range of 120-160 runs. Teams will use slow bowlers and spinners regularly. And it will be an even contest between bowl and bat.

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