Kane Williamson hopes strong fielding and bowling will trigger series turnaround – Cricket News Update
Praising his team for their recent, much-needed victory, which helped them revive what had hitherto been a one-sided tour, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/KS-Williamson-c1813 claimed he hoped their improved fielding and bowling efforts would enable them to turn
the series around in their favour.
“Those sort of matches where you must win and we showed that fight today... We showed with the fielding that we can portray at times,” Williamson said. “It was nice to step up and win this match and keep the series alive through a really strong fielding
and bowling effort.”
New Zealand had failed to make much of an impression so far during their ongoing tour of the United States of America and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760. They lost the T20I leg of the tour in Florida 0-2, and appeared to be continuing in a similar vein during the ODI series,
losing the first match by 9 wickets, and following that up with a 55-run defeat in the second game.
In addition to a batting order that had failed to fire, the inability of the Kiwi bowlers to eliminate the threat of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/CH-Gayle-c1221 had added to their woes. The seemingly invincible Jamaican all-rounder had registered four back-to-back 50-plus individual scores
so far – 85*, 53, 63*, and 125 – and the hosts looked poised to clinch the series with yet another victory in the third ODI, played at Warner Park in Basseterre, St Kitts on July 11.
Despite half-centuries from Player of the Match http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RJ-Nicol-c2331 and Nathan McCullum, the Black Caps only managed to post a total of 249 – an achievable target for the Windies. However, the Kiwi bowlers stepped up to the challenge in a big way.
Pacer http://www.senore.com/Cricket/TG-Southee-c2659 finished with figures of 6-1-14-1, remarkable not only for the economy rate of 2.33, but also because he
managed to claim the prized wicket of Gayle in the 9th over, leaving the Windies at 33 for 2.
Boult, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/DJG-Sammy-c1382 was dismissed in the 27th over, the Windies were at 95 for 7.
In addition to the wickets, tight fielding resulted in three run-outs – veterans http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sunil-Philip-Narine-c91869 also found himself dismissed via
run-out.
Coming in at number 9, the top scorer on the host team for the day was http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Andre-Dwayne-Russell-c44235, with an unbeaten 42. However, his efforts were not enough to rescue the team, and they were cut off, all out, at 161, enabling the Kiwis to keep themselves in the running
by securing an 88-run victory.
“It's a great shift in momentum,” Williamson observed. “...It's nice to get a win in such a crucial game ... the bowling performance was a little bit better executed in terms of ... what we wanted to achieve. Things went our way and hopefully that's the
momentum shift we needed in the series.”
The Black Caps have another chance to make a mark and level the 2-1 series during the upcoming 4th ODI, due to be played at the same venue on July 14.
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