ICC World Cup 2019: Match 29, Windies vs New Zealand – Williamson’s best, Brathwaite’s stunner and more stats

Windies went down by five runs to New Zealand despite Carlos Brathwaite’s maiden International century during the 292-run chase. After the openers got out for ducks, skipper Kane Williamson son rescued his team with his career-best score of 148. Ross Taylor also scored 69 as they finished with 291/8 in their 50 overs. Fifties from Chris Gayle (87) and Shimron Hetmyer (54) took the Windies to 144/2 by end of 22nd over.

Moments of rush from their batsmen saw them collapse to 164/7 in the next 29 deliveries. Brathwaite, who walked in at No.6, batted sensibly with the tail to narrow down the deficit. As many as 25 runs came in the 48th over bowled by Matt Henry as Carlos moved on to 99. He brought up his century in only 80 deliveries in the penultimate over before holing out the last delivery to long-on when they needed six to win.

All the statistical highlights from a nerve-wrenching game between Windies and New Zealand:

Kiwis continue their streak:

4 – New Zealand now has won each of their previous four World Cup matches against the Windies. However, this was their maiden CWC win against the team from the Caribbean in England. The Blackcaps won all the four CWC games they played against the Windies outside England and lost all the three CWC matches in England before winning this.

5 – The 5-run defeat in this game is the narrowest losing margin for the Windies in a World Cup game in terms of runs. They lost to Australia in the 1996 CWC semis in Mohali also by 5 runs. This is also the 2nd shortest win for New Zealand in terms of runs in the CWC behind their 3-run victory against Zimbabwe in the 1987 edition.

A game of individual brilliance:

2 – Windies are the only team to lose a World Cup game despite an individual century and a 4-wicket haul. Bangladesh were the first side to be on losing side despite the two individual efforts. They had such a game in the 2015 edition also against New Zealand.

4 – Only the 4th time both the teams had a centurion and a player taking a 4-wicket haul in the same ODI game. India-Zimbabwe Champions Trophy game in 2002, Australia-England ODI in 2015 at SCG and Australia-India ODI in 2015 at Manuka Oval were the other three instances.

A record ton from Williamson:

3 – Kane Williamson became only the 3rd player to score consecutive centuries in the World Cup as captain. Ricky Ponting during the 2003 final and in the first game of 2007 edition recorded tons while Brendan Taylor scored two in two during the 2015 edition.

148 – Kane Williamson’s 148-run knock is the 2nd highest individual score by a New Zealand captain in ODI cricket. Glenn Turner scored an unbeaten 171 against East Africa during the 1975 World Cup which was incidentally New Zealand’s first ever CWC game.

A record century from Brathwaite:

80 – The 80-ball century by Carlos Brathwaite is fastest century in the World Cup for the Windies. The previous fastest came off 82 balls by Brian Lara in the 1996 Quarters against South Africa and also in 82 balls by Lendl Simmons against Ireland in 2015.

101 – Brathwaite is only the 2nd Windies player to score a century in a World Cup defeat. The first was Lendl Simmons who scored 102 against Ireland during the 2015 edition. Both the players scored tons while batting at No.6; the only CWC tons for the Windies while batting at No.6 or lower.

Ducks to start off:

3 – Only the 3rd time in the history of ODI cricket both the openers got out for a golden duck in an innings. Zimbabwe openers recorded this instance also against the Windies in 2006 Grenada ODI while Afghanistan dismissed both the Sri Lankan openers for golden ducks in the 2015 CWC game.

4 – Martin Guptill now has been dismissed on the first legitimate ball of an ODI inning on four instances; the joint 2nd most times by any player. Chris Gayle had six such dismissals while Imran Nazir, Adam Gilchrist, Sanath Jayasuriya and Tamim Iqbal also got out on the first ball of team’s innings on four instances.

Windies replicate 1983:

2 – This is only the 2nd instance of Windies losing all the 10 wickets in a World Cup match. The first such occasion was recorded in the 1983 CWC final against India at the Lord’s.

Picking up wickets and taking catches:

1 – Sheldon Cottrell became the first player in World Cup history to bag a 4-wicket haul and take three catches in the same match. Overall, he is the 6th player with this double in an ODI game and the 2nd for Windies after Joel Garner in the 1987 Perth ODI against Australia.