NZ vs WI | Calm Conway and scintillating Santer power past hapless Hope ton to take ODI series 2-0
New Zealand's team effort overpowered a sensational one-man show by Shai Hope in a rain-curtailed 34-over ODI at McLean on Wednesday. The West Indies skipper's 109 off 69 took them to 247/5 but Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, and Mitchell Santner's efforts secured a final-over win by five wickets.
New Zealand won the toss and chose to bowl first in the rain-curtailed 34-over game given the conditions around. Matt Henry and Kyle Jamieson backed up their skipper's decision with consecutive maidens to begin as they completely tied down Ackeem Auguste and John Campbell with an exhibition of swing and seam bowling. The latter attempted to break free in the sixth over and duly holed out off Jamieson at deep third to end his 17-ball struggle for four runs. The seamer added Keacy Carty soon after for single digits to leave the Windies reeling at 40/2 after 10. Skipper Shai Hope walked in next and showed his peers the way by going on the counterattack, smashing two quick boundaries followed by an upstanding maximum against Nathan Smith. Auguste tried to follow suit, only to hand the pacer his maiden breakthrough of the day as he departed for 22. Hope doubled down with another maximum the next over before Sherfane Rutherford smoked two of his own to announce his arrival. However, that was all he could contribute before he was caught off Mitchell Santner, and Smith redeemed himself with a ripper to clean up Roston Chase as the hosts found themselves 86/5 in the 16th. Hope motored along nevertheless and in Justin Greaves finally found an able partner to bring about a semblance of stability as the duo ticked 44 runs together, the former bringing up a 42-ball half-century in the process. However, just two balls later Greaves' wild swat handed Smith a third scalp, the score 130/6 with 10 overs to go. Hope put on the burners and put up an exhibition of strokemaking, while Romario Shepherd (22 off 14) and Matthew Forde (21 off 11) delivered vital cameos at the other end. The skipper brought up his first hundred in the isles with a gorgeous six in the last over, off just 69 balls as the Windies powered their way to 247/9 in their quota of 34.
In response, Forde and Jayden Seales made the new ball talk like their counterparts to keep the hosts to 25/0 in the seven-over powerplay. However, changes in bowling brought about freer run-flow as Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra accelarated to 98/0 by the end of 15-overs, including 29 in the last two. Ravindra brought up his half-century off 42 balls but before Conway could get to his, an excellent catch by Roston Chase sent the youngster packing to break the 106-run stand. Conway quickly reconfigured himself with a new batter at the crease and returned to his merry ways, getting the Kiwis to 129/1 in 20 overs. But Will Young could not match Ravindra's effort as his rut continued with a dismissal off Chase, an Mark Chapman fell two balls later to Jayden Seales for a duck to bring the visitors roaring back. Conway continued to strike boundaries to keep the required rate in check and was just 10 away from a ton when he slashed one to backward point, leaving the Kiwis 77 to get in the final eight. Michael Bracewell and Tom Latham released some pressure by taking Seales for 18 to bring the rate back within 10, but just eight runs off the next wo overs and the former's wicket again put the Windies in control. It did not last long this time as Santner came roaring with 14 runs off Forde's first three balls in the 31st over, followed by 10 off Springer's first two balls to leave just seven to win on the final ball but with Latham on strike. To Seales' horror, he delivered a head-high full toss and Latham calmly put it away for four, before Santner fitting scored the winning runs of the free hit to take his team through with an umbeaten 34 off 15.
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