New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner led from the front as New Zealand chased down 189 in nail-biting fashion in Barbados. Santner finished with 2/36 in 10 overs and then held his nerve with the bat to slam an unbeaten 34 off 56 to guide his team to a one-wicket victory with 29 balls to spare.

Batting first, West Indies lost wickets at regular intervals to find themselves at 81/6 in the 20th over. That’s when Amir Jangoo (51) and Gudakesh Motie (41) put on 81 for the seventh wicket to take West Indies over 150. Along with Santner, pacer Matt Fisher too chipped in with three wickets, while Michael Bracewell, Jayden Lennox and Nathan Smith too were among the wickets.

NZ collapse but scrape through

What should have been an easy chase quickly turned problematic for New Zealand as they collapsed from 142/4 to 180/9 in a span of 10 overs to give West Indies a chance. Mark Chapman batted extremely well for his 80 and put on 65 off just 53 with Michael Bracewell (32) to take New Zealand within touching distance. But West Indies, led by Motie’s 5/43, kept the Black Caps in check, but in the end, they fell about 15-20 runs short as Santner and co. scraped through.

After West Indies won the first ODI, New Zealand have done well to bounce back in the next three to clinch the series. They will hope to continue their momentum into the next game on July 22 at the same venue.

Brief score:

West Indies 188 in 44.1 overs (Amir Jangoo 51, Gudakesh Motie 41; Matthew Fisher 3/40) lost to New Zealand 189 in 44.1 overs (Mark Chapman 80, Mitchell Santner 34*; Gudakesh Motie 5/47) by 1 wicket

Player of the Match: Mitchell Santner

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