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You are here: Cricket T20 Internationals Bravo, Narine propel West Indies to 2-0 series win

Bravo, Narine propel West Indies to 2-0 series win

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dwayne_bravo1In the absence of super striker Kieron Pollard, the West Indies posted an impressive, if not quite so imposing total of 177-5 in their 20 overs courtesy of another half-century from Chris Gayle (53) and a blistering 11-ball innings of 35 from Dwayne Bravo, who provided the late flourish to their innings. The runs on the board though proved to be more than enough to take down the Kiwis for a second straight game, with New Zealand getting knocked over for just 116 with Sunil Narine spinning a brilliant web around them to pick up match winning figures of 4-12 from his quota of 4 overs. Bravo followed up his outstanding effort with the bat with 2 wickets as well, as the West Indies ended this short trip to the United States for the T20 series 2-0 victors.

Kane Williamson, who was captaining New Zealand today in the absence of the injured Ross Taylor, lost the toss and the West Indies decided to once again make first use of the pitch. Dwayne Smith just like he did yesterday smashed two sixed before falling in his teens, once again to Doug Bracewell, this time out caught and bowled.

Johnson Charles (32) and Chris Gayle laid another strong foundation, adding 72 runs for the second wicket before New Zealand had a good run in the middle overs, picking up wickets at regular intervals. Lendl Simmons (18) and Darren Sammy (13) both made handy contributions, but it was Bravo who provided the impetus at the end of the innings as the West Indies once again made the most of having wickets in hand to post a very competitive target.

Nathan McCullum recovered from his mauling from yesterday to pick up 2 wickets for 19 from 3 overs with Kyle Mills also making a good comeback, conceding just 20 runs from his 4 overs.

New Zealand in response got off to an decent start before Sunil Narine came on in the fifth over and rocked their innings dramatically. The mystery-spinner who regained his mojo with a 3-wicket haul yesterday struck on consecutive deliveries in his first over to remove both openers - Martin Guptill (18) and Rob Nicol (7). In the following over, Kane Williamson was run out for 6 leaving the Kiwis in trouble at 33-3 at the end of the powerplay.

Things got worse for the 'visitors' with the other spinner Samuel Badree removing pinch hitter Tim Southee (3) before Narine struck again to knock over Dean Brownlie for 1.

Daniel Flynn made a brisk 23 before he fell to Marlon Samuels in the off-spinner's first over as New Zealand looked dead and buried at 69-6 in the 13th over.

The Kiwi tailenders threw their bats around, but were unable to make a significant impact on the game, eventually getting bowled out for 116 in the 19th over to hand the West Indies an emphatic 61 run win.

The attention now shifts to the one-day arena, with Kingston playing host to the first of 5 ODIs on Thursday, the 5th of July.

Mini Scorecard:

West Indies 177-5 (20 overs, 8.85 rpo)
C Gayle 53 (39) N McCullum 2-19
D Bravo 35* (11)  R Nicol 1-11

New Zealand 116 all out (18.4 overs, 6.21 rpo)
D Flynn 22 (19) S Narine 4-12
D Bracewell 20 (11) D Bravo 2-23

West Indies win by 61 runs

File Photograph Copyright: ICC World T20