ODI: Hetmyer, Rutherford haul West Indies home in tense chase

Sherfane Rutherford and Shimron Hetmyer found themselves facing a problem. The one West Indies often face. Dot balls. And they solved it in a way that is typical of them too.

With boundaries. This was merely a consolation victory with West Indies’ chances of winning this series long past and a World Cup Qualifier in their near future but it still tasted sweet.

New Zealand had put up 268 for 9, the highest first-innings total of the five-match series and they were making it seem a whole lot bigger. Mitchell Santner came on in the tenth over.

Pace disappeared by the 16th. Spinners bowling in tandem gave away just 37 in 13 overs. Keacy Carty produced the slowest innings of 20 or more by a West Indian since Marlon Samuels’ 25 off 65 against Pakistan in July 2013. And then he fell for 20 off 54.

Jayden Lennox found himself in the company of cricketing royalty. He went past Shane Warne and Anil Kumble and Sunil Narine and Shahid Afridi on the list of spinners with the most wickets in a bilateral ODI series.

His 14 was still way off the top but it was doing pretty well. A long hop of his was enough to dismiss Shai Hope, who walked away throwing a bit of a look at partner at the other end. Carty’s innings at that point was 42 balls long and featured 29 dot balls.

In trying to dispel the pressure he had built, Hope, the West Indies captain, had thrown away his wicket with 151 runs still to get. The helplessness in his eyes as he walked off was poignant. (Cricinfo)