West Indies may be the defending champion in the World T20, but New Zealand proved that, at least at home, they are much superior to the Windies.

West Indies may be the defending champion in the World T20, but New Zealand proved that, at least at home, they are much superior to the Windies. They clinched the two-match T20 series without much trouble. With both the bat and ball, New Zealand outdid the visitors. They were moments when West Indies competed with the hosts, but at the end of the day, New Zealand proved far superior to Dwayne Bravo’s men.

There were plenty of good performances from New Zealand in both the matches. They batted very well to post 189 in the opening T20 at Auckland. Skipper Brendon McCullum showed his true colours in this format, smashing an unbeaten 60 off 45 balls with two fours and four sixes. Luke Ronchi was also exceptional smashing 48 from 25 balls with three fours and four sixes. In fact, it was his splendid knock that helped New Zealand post a highly impressive total. There were also good knocks from Martin Guptill, Jesse Ryder and Colin Munro.

New Zealand’s bowling was also much better than that of West Indies’. Nathan McCullum was the key for the hosts with the bat. His figures of 4 for 24 were mainly responsible for Windies’ batting collapse. James Neesham also chipped in with three wickets to put West Indies under further trouble. Even the others who did not pick up many wickets were economical – Adam Milne and Corey Anderson conceded only 15 runs each in their four overs.

New Zealand’s bowling was slightly on the disappointing side in the second T20 at Wellington. They conceded 159 bowling first. Milne was the best of the bowlers with figures of 2 for 22, but Anderson was smashed for 50 runs in his four overs, which allowed the visitors to launch themselves to a decent score. New Zealand were in trouble chasing the challenging score, but Ronchi once again played a masterful innings to see the Kiwis through. His unbeaten 51 from 28 balls left the Windies shell-shocked. One must also give credit to veteran Ross Taylor, who held the innings together with his subdued 39.

As the result suggests, West Indies did not have much to celebrate over the two games. Tino Best and Nikita Miller picked up five wickets between themselves in the opening ODI, but they, and the rest, did not manage to keep the run rate down. With the bat, they clearly missed Gayle as no one stood up to put the pressure back on the hosts. Denesh Ramdin’s half-century and Andre Fletcher’s 40 gave them hope of a victory in the second game. Jason Holder, Sunil Narine and Russell then combined to put Windies in front while defending the target. But, they couldn’t contain Ronchi, and he was clearly the difference between the teams in both the games.

--By A Cricket Analyst