WI lose 2nd match in row

CARDIFF: New Zealand beat the West Indies by five wickets in the sixth one-day match of the triangular cricket series yesterday to edge closer to the final. “Man-of-the-Match” Hamish Marshall’s unbeaten 75 at Sofia Gardens led the Kiwis’ chase to 220 for five with four overs left. The 25-year-old’s 119-ball knock included three boundaries. Captain Stephen Fleming contributed 45 at the top of the order.  West Indies allrounder Dwayne Bravo took three for 36 with his medium pace. Earlier, the West Indies had half centuries from captain Brian Lara and vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan before slumping to 216 all out off 46.2 overs.     

Lara, who opened for the first time in four and a half years, registered a run-a-ball 58. Sarwan stroked four fours and a six to collect 54 off 67 balls. The West Indies lost their last seven wickets for 36 runs in 60 deliveries. Chris Cairns, who made the breakthrough against Lara, took three for 29 off eight overs. Fellow fast bowler Ian Butler, in his first match of the tournament, had three for 41 off 8.2 overs. Lara had a rampant start after Fleming sent the West Indies to bat. The 35-year-old left-hander scattered strokes around a sun-baked outfield to dominate an opening stand of 83 off 108 balls with Chris Gayle. Lara claimed his half century off 53 balls with a lofted hit for six off Jacob Oram to add to nine boundaries. But Cairns outfoxed the Trinidadian with a slower ball as Lara spooned a catch to mid-on.

Gayle compiled 27 off 58 balls before he edged a cut to wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins in Cairns’s next over at 92 for two.  Sarwan shared further stands with Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Bravo. He and fellow Guyanese Chanderpaul added 40 off 47 balls for the third wicket. Butler broke that partnership when Chanderpaul (21) under-edged a drive to Hopkins. Sarwan upped the tempo after losing Chanderpaul and added 48 with Bravo, who contributed 15 off 27 balls. But when Bravo fell to Scott Styris as he spooned an on-drive, the collapse began. Ricardo Powell was caught and bowled by Butler off inside edge and pad, while Cairns returned to snare the key wicket of Sarwan.  The 24-year-old right-hander scooped a catch to mid-on after hitting four fours and a six. The run outs of Ian Bradshaw and Dwayne Smith contributed to the West Indies’ late-order demise, while Butler finished the innings by yorking Jermaine Lawson.  Fleming and Nathan Astle added 42 for the first wicket in nine overs to give New Zealand a good start.
 
Pacer Lawson made the breakthrough as Astle (19) chipped an on-drive to square leg. But Fleming and Marshall shared a 72-run stand. Bravo then took two wickets in successive overs midway through the innings. Fleming miscued a pull for a skied return catch, while Styris was bowled by an inswinging yorker at 121 for three. But Marshall found useful partners in Craig McMillan and Oram. McMillan and the Northern Districts right-hander added 55 for the fourth wicket before Bravo returned to claim his third  scalp. Lara made a breathtaking one-handed catch at extra cover to send McMillan on his way after hitting two fours in 22 off 37 balls.  Marshall and Oram closed in on the triumph with a run-a-ball partnership of 40, but Oram was retired with the scores level as Lawson found his edge. Cairns hit the winning runs with a leg side boundary off his first delivery.