New Zealand vs. West Indies, 1st T20I: Scorecard and Report from Auckland

New Zealand edged ahead of West Indies in their Twenty20 series with a crushing 81-run win in the opening match in Auckland.

West Indies levelled the ODI series with a brilliant win in Hamilton earlier in the week, but they were unable to carry on the momentum into the shorter format of the game.

Batsman	Dismissal	Runs	Balls	Fours	Sixes
MJ Guptill	c Charles b Best	25	16	3	1
JD Ryder	c Charles b Miller	22	14	3	0
B McCullum*	Not out	60	45	2	4
R Taylor	c Bravo b Miller	5	7	0	0
C Munro	c †Fletcher b Best	22	12	1	2
C Anderson	c Powell b Best	0	2	0	0
L Ronchi	not out	48	25	3	4
Extras	7
Total	189 for 5	20 Overs

Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
Badree	4	0	25	0
Best	4	0	40	3
Narine	4	0	46	0
Miller	3	0	26	2
Bravo	4	0	24	0
Russell	1	0	23	0

On what looked a tough wicket to bat on, New Zealand posted 189 for 5 in their 20 overs and it proved beyond West Indies.

Martin Guptill and Jesse Ryder provided a platform with 25 and 22 respectively in rapid time.

Captain Brendon McCullum launched from the platform with an unbeaten 60, and aided by Luke Ronchi’s 45 not out, the pair took New Zealand to an imposing 189.

West Indies’ reply began promisingly with Johnson Charles opening his shoulders, but the pace of Adam Milne proved too much for his opening partner Lendl Simmons who fell for a four-ball duck.

Andre Fletcher and Charles set about rebuilding the innings, but New Zealand kept chipping away with wickets.

"

The West Indies batsmen are walking off every 2 minutes #kiwidomination #t20

— Matt Jennings (@MattJennings11) January 11, 2014"

With their hitters out of the equation, West Indies fell well short of their target.

Batsman	Dismissal	Runs	Balls	Fours	Sixes
J Charles	c †Ronchi b Neesham	16	14	3	0
L Simmons	c †Ronchi b Milne	0	4	0	0
A Fletcher	c Ryder b NL McCullum	23	25	0	1
K Powell	c Guptill b NL McCullum	12	14	1	0
D Bravo	c Ryder b NL McCullum	10	11	1	0
A Russell	c Guptill b NL McCullum	0	2	0	0
C Walton	c Munro b Neesham	9	8	0	1
N Miller
S Narine	c Milne b Neesham	0	2	0	0
S Badree	not out	9	12	1	0
Extras	9
Total	108 for 8	20 overs

Bowler	Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets
T Southee	3	0	28	0
A Milne	4	0	15	1
J Neesham	3	0	13	3
N McCullum	4	0	24	4
C Anderson	4	0	15	0

As well as New Zealand bowled, they were aided by their fielders and Guptill took two superb catches in the deep to remove the dangerous pair of Kieran Powell and Andre Russell.

West Indies simply could not get to grips with the New Zealand bowlers, with James Neesham (3 for 16) and Nathan McCullum (4 for 24) impressing.

Brendon McCullum was delighted with his side’s performance, and feels their standards in the field were excellent.

Speaking to broadcaster Sky Sport after the game, the New Zealand captain said:

"

It was a pretty complete performance. From the get go we got momentum, then Luke Ronchi gave us the impetus we needed with the bat.

And then I thought the way we bowled and fielded is how we should as a New Zealand team and the standards we set ourselves.

We train hard all the time, we have high standards. We don’t always achieve them, but we strive to achieve them and in the last two or three years we have fielded pretty well.

That is something we have to continue to do, as we do not have the depth of other countries.

"