Rookies Phillips, Rance star in dominating NZ win
Tim Southee celebrates captaincy debut with a win as West Indies wither away in steep chase to remain winless on tour
Tim Southee celebrates captaincy debut with a win as West Indies wither away in steep chase to remain winless on tour
Commentator: Akshay Gopalakrishnan
Right then, West Indies end 2017 on a pretty forgettable note. They will next walk out to a cricket field on New Year's Day. Any sort of improvement from here will be a welcome one. They simply haven't inspired on this tour. This is all we have from this game. We hope you enjoyed our coverage of this match. Rain is having a big say on the fourth day of the fourth Ashes Test but do switch over tabs if you are eager for a resumption. This is all we have for you from this game. Our best wishes to you for the holidays. May the New Year bring good health and happiness. Catch you all in 2018!
6.15pm Blanked 2-0 in the Tests, blanked 3-0 in the ODIs, and now schooled in a format they are world champions in. West Indies continue to fail to inspire on this tour. More distressingly, they aren't even coming close. Another comprehensive rout. One poor over with the ball - the last of the New Zealand innings - saw them concede any advantage they had managed to gain. They never pulled themselves together after that as they listlessly crumbled with the bat. Memorable T20 international debut for Seth Rance as he ends with three wickets. Stay tuned, we will bring you the presentations shortly.
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Glenn Phillips is Man of the Match. "The pitch was a little bit slower than we expected it to. Credit to West Indies for bowling well," he says. "It took four-five overs to figure out that we needed to get under it a little more. Munro was really good out there, it was all about going one ball at a time. It was one of those days when we went out and what we did came off pretty good. It was a pretty complete performance. Unless out openers get off to a flier and you come in with six overs to spare or something, batting in the middle is pretty much the same as opening."
"Credit to the opposition for bowling well and showing discipline on the field," says West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite. "They stopped us from going for the big shots and congratulations to them. We bowled well for 19 overs. But it happens. Kesrick Williams has been the best bowler in the world this calendar year. We never really got going with the bat. A 10-run over would have given us some momentum in the backend. It's impossible to improve skillset in two or three days. We've had a good run in this format so far. We need to start 2018 well. We have some good days and bad days. Unfortunately we haven't had too many good days on this tour."
"The way we fielded and bowled today was exceptional," says New Zealand captain Tim Southee. "We didn't lose wickets when it was tough. Guys chipped in all the way down. The last over was some great bit of momentum going into our innings. The beauty of bowling second is you get 20 overs to see what works well. For Seth to come in and pick up a couple of wickets was really good. I enjoyed captaincy. Obviously a pretty clinical performance which made things easier."
S Badree lbw b Rance 2 (5m 3b 0x4 0x6) SR: 66.66
The wicketkeeper batsman, filling in for Tom Latham, capped off an eventful year by taking three superb catches to add to a sparkling half-century
Tim Southee celebrates captaincy debut with a win as West Indies wither away in steep chase to remain winless on tour
Both T20 heavyweights have pulled out due to personal reasons, leaving the world champions short on firepower as they face a New Zealand team in top form