DHAKA: Opener Martin Guptill’s unbeaten double-century and Trent Boult’s a haul of four wickets help New Zealand reach the ICC World Cup semi-finals.
The co-host beat West Indies by 143 runs at the 4th Quarter-Final of the tournament in Wellington Saturday.
Chasing New Zealand-set 394-run target, West Indies lost all wickets to score 250 in 30.3 overs.
Chris Gayle scored 61 runs off 33 balls, Jason Holder added 42 runs off 26 balls.
New Zealand’s Boult bagged four wickets. Tim Southee and Daniel Vettori took two wickets each while Adam Milne and Corey Anderson bagged a wicket each.
New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum won the toss and opted to bat. The match kicked off at 7:00am Bangladesh time.
The blackcaps scored 393 runs for six in stipulated 50 overs. Guptill scored 237 runs, the highest individual score in the world cup history.
Martin Guptill began the Kiwis’ innings with Brendon McCullum on the other end of the crease while West Indies’ Jerome Taylor bowled the first over.
The Kiwis lost early wicket. Taylor made McCullum walked to pavilion when New Zealand scored 27 runs in 4.2 overs.
New Zealand lost the second wicket more than ten overs later. Andre Russell also took Kane Williamson’s wicket in 15.6 overs.
Martin Guptill scored 237 runs off 163 balls. He built his innings, hitting 24 boundaries and 11 over boundaries with a strike rate of 145.39, staying 223 minutes on the crease.
Among other Kiwi batsmen, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson and Grant Elliott scored 42, 33 and 27 runs respectively.
Only, two bowlers of West Indies were successful. Jerome Taylor and Andre Russell took three and two wickets respectively.
Martin Guptill became the Man of the Match. He said: "We had a couple of good partnerships early, which set the game up. We were trying to take each ball as it comes and just build a partnership. After I got the hundred, I just thought I should probably hit a few boundaries. The quickest outfield I have played on here.”
“You got value for your shots. Incredible crowd. A step-up from the England game. Let this win sink in, we will think of the semi-final after that. Th 237 hasn't really sunk in. We still have a lot of work to do, so can't dwell too much no this."
Wining New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum said: “The innings we witnessed is probably one of the best we have ever seen in this format. Sublime. Just sublime. I will never forget it. Everybody here the same. The way the team is structured allows me a bit of license at the start. Some days it comes off, some days it doesn't, but that's the way it is. We need to play aggressive cricket to compete with the world's best sides, and I am sure the crowd is enjoying the way we are playing. We wanted to make a real statement on the back of Gup's inning, and that's what we did with the ball and in the field. We will celebrate Gup's success, the team's success, tonight, and then turn our attention to the semi-final. “
“Tremendous support from the capital, lovely crowd throughout the summer, the best time of our lives and lovely that the crowd can travel with us on that journey. I am pretty sure a lot of them are booking their way to Auckland too. Oh I didn't give Dan a chance. You saw the reaction from the boys, the way the boys ran from all over the field. It's pretty hard to compare eras. Some outstanding eras, but certainly among teams I have played in, this is the best. No disrespect to the legends of the past, but I am pretty happy with the current team," he added.
Defeated West Indies captain Jason Holder said: "It was tough to defend, "We were in the game until the 35th over. Guptill played brilliantly. We put him down early. A set batsman on that pitch is dangerous. Having said that we didn't bowl our yorkers well. It was a difficult challenge. We had an up-and-down World Cup. Not something I will shy away from. Of course I will like to keep the job. I don;t think I have done too badly. I have a lot confidence we can go upwards."
BDST: 1521 HRS, MAR 18, 2015
