At a glance
T20 World Cup, Tarouba: West Indies 149-9 (Sherfane Rutherford 68 not out from 39 balls; Trent Boult 3-16 from 4 overs, Tim Southee 2-21 from 4, Lockie Ferguson 2-27 from 4) beat New Zealand 136-9 (Glenn Phillips 40 from 33 balls; Alzarri Joseph 4-19 from 4, Gudakesh Motie 3-25 from 4) by 13 runs.
suspected in the buildup to the encounter.
That helped see four wickets fall in the six-over power play, as clever bowling was accompanied by vastly improved fielding.
When Boult was brought back in the 13th over and got rid of dangerous allrounder Andre Russell, it looked like the Black Caps may have rolled through the hosts for less than a team century.
But No 6 Rutherford hung around, proving initially troublesome and then incredibly threatening.
The employment of Mitchell as a death bowler again failed, with the part-time seamer struck for three sixes in the 19th over by Rutherford.
First-choice spinner Santner bowled just two overs, including the final one of the home team’s innings, which saw the left-handed bat take another 18 runs to make New Zealand’s chase a lot tougher.
After starring with the bat, Rutherford blundered badly in the field when he dropped Finn Allen on 24 in the sixth over, but the opener perished three balls later.
When Williamson again fell edging a spinner, his side were feeling the pressure at 39-3 in the seventh over, and Ravindra couldn’t quell the nerves of Black Caps fans when he picked out the leg-side boundary-rider two overs later.
Glenn Phillips (40 from 33 balls) tried to find a miracle solution, but when he fell after back-to-back boundaries in the 18th over, New Zealand’s fate at the tournament felt sealed.