Sarwan helps clinch a thriller by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Event:

West Indies in New Zealand 2008/09

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DateLine: 3rd January 2009

 

The second match was almost a washout when all off a sudden the weather cleared giving time for 28 overs a side match. West Indies got better of New Zealand as they paced their chase extremely well. It went down to the penultimate ball for to decide the winners of the contest. Set a target of 158 to win in 28 overs in the D/L method, West Indies crossed the finishing line in 27.5 overs, with Sarwan and Ramdin being the architects of the victory. The target would have been higher had New Zealand not lost too many wickets, and in the end losing eight wickets in the D/L method proved very costly.

 

After opting to field, the visitors got the dangerous Brendon McCullum early and the rain came down in the seventh over just as Ryder was beginning to cut loose. Play was held up for four hours as rain and hail began to fall on the ground. Then after four long hours of waiting the weather began to clear making it possible for the play to continue. The overs were cut short and New Zealand, under the D/L method had to bat 28 overs, changing their mind set from 50 overs to almost a mind set of T20.

 

Ryder and Jamie How kept the runs flowing on resumption before Ryder holed out to deep cover off Nikita Miller in the 12th over. New Zealand struggled to regain momentum after that dismissal; they were unable to score more than five off any of the next ten overs. The pressure created by Miller and Jerome Taylor led to the dismissal of several New Zealand batsmen and the hosts slid to 97 for 5 in 22 overs. Jacob Oram pulled them out of the rut, taking 17 off a Chris Gayle over, and Grant Elliott's big-hitting towards the end boosted New Zealand beyond 150.

 

New Zealand finally set West Indies 158 (under the Duckworth/Lewis method) to win in 28 overs with the highest individual score being Jesse Ryder's 32.

 

Openers Gayle and Chattergoon opened the innings and with the required run rate only around five an over, both the openers did not begin by belting the ball around and just when Chattergoon began to open his shoulders, he was cleaned up by Southee. In walked Sarwan and Gayle after a quiet beginning began to step on the gas. Just when Gayle seemed to be getting on top, Vettori after being deposited in the stands, knocked back Gayle's off stump with a quicker one. Sarwan held on one end as wickets tumbled at the other end and finally he got Ramdin at the other end. 48 was needed in 34 balls at that stage.

 

The pair took stock of the situation and instead of going ballistic, they whetted the target down to 36 in 19 balls in singles. It was then that out off the blue Sarwan deposited Mills over the boundary ropes to reduce the equation to 30 runs and in meantime Sarwan crossed his fifty. Ramdin taking the cue collected boundaries off Southee and Patel in consecutive overs and when West Indies headed into the final over they needed only 4 runs. The last over was not without drama as Ramdin could have been caught short of the crease twice but the New Zealand fielders failed to hit the stumps. When Sarwan finally cuts the ball through the point region, West Indies completed a remarkable win to take the lead in the five match series.