After narrow losing the opening match of the One-Day International series against New Zealand, Sherfane Rutherford said the Caribbean side needed to manage their innings better.
Daryl Mitchell slammed a match-winning century as New Zealand edged the West Indies by seven runs Saturday.
Batting at number four, Player-of-the-Match Mitchell smashed 119 off 118 balls to help the home side break free in the final ten overs and post a competitive 269 for seven, after being sent into bat at the Hagley Oval.
A slow start to their run chase then handicapped the West Indies, and despite a welcomed return to form by Rutherford and another valiant effort from their lower order, they ended just short on 262 for six from their allotted overs.
“It’s important for us to rotate the strike,” Rutherford said afterwards. “We know that New Zealand is gonna keep bowling the ball into the wicket, so I think as a team, I think we need to find a way of getting off strike and I think once we can get off strike I think we’re gonna be in a winning position.”
He said further: “Sometimes we miscalculate by leaving too much for the back end, so I think for us it’s more important in the middle phase from 11 to 40, if we can get more singles and try and even get more boundaries in between, I think it’s definitely going to help us in the back end.”
The visitors would have also been disappointed that they allowed New Zealand to get up to their eventual total, having contained them to 141 for four at the end of 34 overs.
Matthew Forde did the early damage by dismissing Rachin Ravindra and Will Young off consecutive balls in the seventh over to leave them 24 for two.
Following a 67-run partnership between Mitchell and opener Devon Conway, who made 49 off 58 balls, Justin Greaves had the latter caught behind and Jayden Seales dismissed Tom Latham in similar fashion after he scored 18.
Mitchell and Michael Bracewell then set about repairing the damage, albeit at a run rate of just above four runs an over, thanks to some disciplined bowling by the Windies.
Mitchell should have been back in the pavilion when he was 69 but Seales dropped him running in from long-on.
Captain Shai Hope also missed an easy stumping to get rid of Bracewell when he was 31, but he only added four more runs before picking out Shamar Springer at long-on, to make the score 192 for five.
Captain Mitchell Santner only made 11 before he was dismissed by Seales, before Mitchell, who also survived a scare when he was 85 after the third umpire ruled that his edge did not carry to Hope, eventually reached his seventh ODI century off 107 balls by slapping Seales to the boundary.
By the time he was dismissed by Seales in the last over of the innings after belting 12 fours and two sixes, the damage had already been done, with New Zealand pummelling 128 runs from the last 16 overs at eight runs an over
Seales was the Windies’ most successful bowler with three for 41, while Forde took two for 55.
Slow start for WI
The West Indies didn’t have the best of starts, losing John Campbell with only ten runs on the board.
Alick Athanaze and Keacy Carty added 60 for the second wicket, but required 18 overs to do so, at a run rate of just over three runs an over.
Both fell in quick succession, with Santner having the former caught for 29 and Kyle Jamieson accounting for the latter’s wicket for 32, to see the Windies slip to 87 for three in the 26th over.
Hope and Rutherford rebuilt the innings in a 51-run partnership for the fourth wicket, but they too struggled to increase the scoring rate.
Hope perished for 37 when his attempted pull shot off Zak Foulkes ballooned into the air to Ravindra at deep square leg, and when Roston Chase pulled Matt Henry into Foulkes’ hands at fine-leg, the West Indies were struggling at 169 for five in the 40th over.
Faced with the mammoth task of scoring 98 runs from the last 10 overs, Rutherford began to accelerate, and he reached his seventh ODI half century by hoisting Santner down the ground for six.
However, Jamieson claimed his wicket in the next over, caught at cover after scoring 55 off 61 balls, inclusive of three sixes and three fours.
Justin Greaves and Romario Shepherd tried their best to keep up with the escalating run rate, and it came down to the Windies requiring 20 runs off the last over bowled by Jacob Duffy.
He conceded 11 off his first four balls, but when Shepherd failed to get bat on the penultimate delivery of the match, it signalled the end of the contest. The second ODI will be played tomorrow night, Caribbean time, and the Windies will need a victory to keep their hopes of winning the three-match series alive.
Rutherford stressed that his team had to do a better job adapting to the task in each match.
“We keep going on different surfaces, so we not really accustomed to one surface…so I think it’s important for us to adapt and just keep finding ways of getting better.”
