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New Zealand became the fourth team to seal their berth in semi finals as they beat West Indies by a huge margin, courtesy of a double hundred by Martin Guptill who became the first Kiwi batsman to achieve the feat. New Zealand won the match by 143 runs with 19.3 overs still remaining to be bowled. This shows how dominant the Black Caps had been in the match.
In the morning New Zealand won the toss and batted first on an absolute batting paradise and set up a total of 393/6 in 50 overs. Martin Guptill played the first ball of the match and also played the last ball of the Kiwi innings as he notched up a double hundred. He remained unbeaten on 237 off just 163 balls as he smashed 24 fours and 11 sixes. The rest of the Kiwi batsmen played round him and there were little cameos from the likes of Grant Elliott and Luke Ronchi but it was pre-dominantly a Martin Guptill show. It felt like as if we were watching a highlights package as almost everything reached the boundary.
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The West Indian batsmen also made a good start but it was too huge a target to be chased down. Still it would have been possible had Gayle stayed till the end. Chris Gayle made a blistering start but he was losing partners at the other end which made things difficult for him. Gayle scored 61 off just 33 balls as he simply took the Kiwi bowling apart. But no one else could stand up and play an anchoring innings that would have taken them close to the target set by New Zealand. In the end they fell short by 143 runs as they got all out on 250 in 30 overs. In fact their run rate was pretty healthy but they just kept losing wickets and that hurt them badly. The entire Kiwi bowling attack took a hammering except Trent Boult who picked up 4 wickets conceding just 44 runs in his 10 overs. In a match where almost 650 runs were scored in just 80 odd overs, Boult’s figures can be regarded as something exceptional.
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Overall one thing can be said that New Zealand got to the semis as the deserved team for they had the better team on paper. And they proved them in the middle as well. Their ground fielding and catching had been exceptional through the tournament and there was absolutely no exception thee today as well. The biggest instance was Daniel Vettori’s one-handed stunner on the boundary line to dismiss Marlon Samuels. It was simply ruthless performance from the Kiwis. Next they will be up against South Africa in the semifinal in a couple of day’s time at Auckland which is expected to be yet another mouth-watering clash.
Tags: Chris Gayle ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Martin Guptill New Zealand West Indies world cup World Cup 2015
