Santner blitz in vain as WI seal tight win

Mitchell Santner's late blitz (28-ball 55*) went in vain as West Indies clinched a narrow seven-run win over New Zealand in the first T20I at Eden Park in Auckland, on Wednesday. The foundation for the victory was laid by Roston Chase's all-round show (28 & 3-26), backed by Shai Hope's half-century and Jayden Seales's three scalps.

Put in to bat, West Indies got off to a scratchy start, losing Brandon King in the opening over. Hope and Alick Athanaze were also slow to get going, but the latter cut loose late in the fourth over, and went to crack a six and a couple of boundaries to get some momentum into the innings, but perished right after.

Despite Hope being able to find a boundary or a six nearly every over, New Zealand were able to control the tempo of the innings for quite some time, as the visitors were kept to 66 for 3 at the half-way mark.

However, the scoring rate picked up drastically in the second half, with Chase and Rovman Powell providing the late flourish and taking West Indies to 164 for 6. Even though the total was middling, and something that New Zealand were happy to take, the stoppy nature of the two-paced pitch was a point of concern. West Indies exploited that well.

New Zealand got off to a good start, with Devon Conway and Tim Robinson picking 30 runs off the first three overs, but the visitors clawed their way back quickly. Conway was cleaned up and Robinson got an edge to sweeper cover.

Chase, Akeal Hosein and Seales kept striking at regular intervals through the middle overs, and had New Zealand reduced to 88 for 6. James Neesham was dropped on 3, but he couldn't cash in on that opportunity, holing out to long off less than two overs later, and mid way through the 17th over, New Zealand were reduced to 108 for 9.

With all hopes of a victory dashed, Santner attempted the unlikely. He took down the West Indian pacers, smashing Matthew Forde for four boundaries and a six, and following that up with hitting three successive boundaries off Jason Holder in the next over. With 19 needed off the final over, Romario Shepherd delivered two consecutive dots. Santner hit a six off the third delivery, but wasn't able to follow that up with more for the rest of the over as the visitors escaped with a thrilling win.

Brief Scores: West Indies 164/6 in 20 overs (Shai Hope 55, Rovman Powell 33; Jacob Duffy 2-19) beat New Zealand 157/9 in 20 overs (Mitchell Santner 55*, Tim Robinson 27; Roston Chase 3-26, Jayden Seales 3-32) by 7 runs