The Hindu : Sport : `Bowl-out' decides match in Kiwis' favour

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 17, 2006

Sport

Sport

`Bowl-out' decides match in Kiwis' favour

AUCKLAND: Shane Bond hit the last ball of a tense match for four as New Zealand and the West Indies tied their Twenty20 cricket international at Eden Park on Thursday, and then went on to knock down a single stump twice in the bowl-out to settle the issue in the host's favour.

New Zealand needed 16 runs from the final over to surpass the West Indies' score of 126 for seven but Bond's last boundary, off Ian Bradshaw, was only enough to carry New Zealand to 126 for eight.

The first tie in the history of Twenty20 internationals was unofficially decided by a `bowl-off' between the teams in which bowlers nominated by each side attempted to hit a single stump in the manner of soccer's penalty shootouts.

Bond hit the stump twice with two balls and Scott Styris once while none of the West Indies bowlers could find a strike, to give New Zealand a technical win which celebrated Chris Cairns's final match in New Zealand colours. Cairns, 35, who retired from Tests last year and ODIs last month ended his celebrated international career with the match. He made only two runs during a faltering New Zealand innings but contributed a catch and run-out as New Zealand restrained the West Indies, which batted on winning the toss.

The match was the West Indies first in the Twenty20 format and its unfamiliarity with the rapid-fire style showed as it struggled to a moderate total, swelled only by a single six and 13 fours.

At 73 for two in the 10th over with a legion of heavy hitters, including Cairns, still to bat, New Zealand seemed to be coasting to victory but accurate, intelligent bowling by Jerome Taylor, Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle and Dwayne Smith altered the course of the match.

New Zealand lost its next six wickets for 33 runs and Bond was left at the crease with all-rounder James Franklin to face the last over, to attempt to eke out the 16 runs still needed for victory.

Franklin hit a six from the second ball to swell Kiwi hopes but Bradshaw did not allow another boundary until the final ball, when New Zealand was still in need of five runs to win.

The scores: West Indies 126 for seven tied with New Zealand 126 for 8 (Lou Vincent 42).

New Zealand win 3-0 in the bowl out. — AP

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