West Indies 269 for 8 (Hetmyer 69*, Rutherford 61, Lennox 3-35, Duffy 3-67) beat New Zealand 268 for 9 (Latham 69, Kelly 64, Young 56, Joseph 2-38, Lawes 2-63) by two wickets
As Hope left, a vibrant crowd in Bridgetown, who had watched one of their own being celebrated at the innings break as CWI honoured Kemar Roach for taking 300 wickets in Test cricket, feared the worst. They had seen New Zealand’s spinners tie batters to the crease. They had felt the pressure build without any release. They had stomached the turgid scoring. Even Hope, wedded to a plan of judging the turn off the pitch, was allowing the opposition to dictate terms. That changed once he and Carty departed.
Rutherford brought up his second fifty-plus score in his last 15 innings – after scoring seven of them in his first 11 – by trusting his skillset instead of reacting to the opposition’s. He stepped down the track against spin. And suddenly the boundaries became accessible. He swept them. This could have resulted in his wicket on 7 off 17 but Will Young dropped a crucial catch at deep square leg. He also remembered to use soft hands and roll his wrists so that the good balls would sneak into gaps. New Zealand didn’t leave many, their infielders placed well inside the 30-yard circle to cut off the singles, which is why the third-wicket partnership between Hope and Carty had produced just 59 runs in 99 balls, but the fifth-wicket parntership between Rutherford and Hetmyer compensated with 95 off 90. On their watch, the last five overs of spin in tandem yielded 37 runs.
West Indies were no longer helpless. They were thriving. So much so that they inspired awe in the eyes of their enemies. Santner got whacked by Rutherford first ball of his second spell and all he could do was watch it sail into the crowd, his mouth the shape of an ‘O’.
West Indies need wins to avoid the roulette that is a ten-team qualifying tournament which will swallow six of them up, denying them a place in the 2027 World Cup. They really went through the wringer getting this win. When the opening partnership was going, it looked like a cakewalk. Ackeem Auguste and Justin Greaves put on 57 runs in just 36 balls. But maybe the struggle that followed puts them in good stead going forward. They’ll remember how they were almost beaten but just didn’t let it happen.
