That marks the end of our coverage from the first ODI of the three-match series between New Zealand and West Indies. Yet another close encounter in this series and the Kiwis are the deserving winners as they kept their nerves at the crucial junctures. Both the teams fought hard but Kiwis got the victory by 7 runs. Next we will move to Napier for the second ODI which is to be played on 19th November. Do join us for that.
For now, this is Saptak Sanyal signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Anirudh Modi and Manan Mehta, the scorer/analyst of this match Yogesh Kumar and the statistician Aman. Have a good day!
STAT ATTACK: This was the second-narrowest win in ODIs at Christchurch in terms of runs — New Zealand beat West Indies by 7 runs. It is only behind New Zealand’s 6-run win against South Africa in 2017.
Smallest Win Margins for New Zealand vs West Indies in ODIs:
4 Runs, Georgetown, 1996
5 Runs, Manchester, 2019
7 Runs, Christchurch 2025, TONIGHT*
9 Runs, Port of Spain, 2002
Mitchell Santner (New Zealand Captain): "We are making a habit of it. In the end, we were just happy with the score. We didn't get wickets up front, but we put pressure in the middle and made it tough at the end.
He is a man for a crisis; he plays a critical role. There were great partnerships throughout the innings, and I am reasonably happy with the team. We were smart, and the wind made plans pretty simple. We made them choose the tough optioand ns, we did pretty well to close out the game.
[Short ball approach] The dimensions of the ground matter here; if the dimensions are small, you don't wanna pepper the batters with the short ball. It was the wind and the big boundary here that helped us out with out plan."
Shai Hope (West Indies Captain):"It is a tight one but we kept ourselves in a good position to win. I think we batted well but the credit should be given to the bowlers. We batted well post the 30-over mark but yes a lot of positives to take from this.
(On Roston Chase) He was very very economical. He bowled really well and his spin was the reason of us resticting them to 269. I think today the boundary was a bit bigger. I hope when we come up for the next game, it will be an even one."
Daryl Mitchell (Player of the Match): "It's always nice to get one at Hagley and help the team win. It's a special ground for me. It's a lot of hard work, but I am proud to have contributed to the win. It's a tricky surface in terms of the extra bounce; I had to put pressure and absorb pressure. You just had to build partnerships here.
A little bit of a niggle, we will see about it tomorrow. Just trying to get as many runs as I can. I am not a good cricket watcher, but good to see the boys get the job done with the ball. Good start from the pacers and they did well to put pressure in the middle, that won us the game."
Player of the Match: Daryl Mitchell
Time for the post match presentation..
3 PM IST and 10:30 PM Local Time : This game swung like a pendulum. At a moment, New Zealand were on top and after a while, the West Indians gave a fight back. All these made it a humdinger of an encounter but it is the hosts, the Kiwis to come out victorious by just 7 runs.
Batting first in the game after losing the toss, New Zealand got into some early trouble as Rachin Ravindra got out for 4 and Will Young got out in the very next ball and that kept Matthew Forde on a hat-trick. But Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell then started the rebuild. They batted watchfully with Conway leading the batting. The left-hander got out for 49 off 58 balls hitting 7 fours and a maximum.
Daryl Mitchell was the star of the Black Caps batting. He kept on playing his natural game and got some second fiddles from Tom Latham (18) and Michael Bracewell (35) to take the innings forward. He got to his hundred and finally scored 119 runs off 118 balls hitting 12 fours and 2 maximums. A crucial cameo from Zak Foulkes at the fag end of the day took the New Zealand's score to 269/7 after the 50th over.
For West Indies, Jayden Seales took 3 wickets. Matthew Forde finished with 2/55. Justin Greaves and Roston Chase took a wicket each.
West Indies came in pursuit of 270-run target and lost John Campbell for just 4. Keacy Carty and Alick Athanaze then decided to hold back and play in a defensive manner. They focused on not losing the wickets and faced the likes of Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy and Zakary Foulkes to face 108 balls in their partnership to score just 60. Athanaze got out scoring 29 off 58 and Carty contributed 32 facing 67 balls.
Shai Hope and Sherfane Rutherford were also cautious but as the asking rate crawled up over 8 and 30 overs were bowled, they decided to throw the caution to the wind. Shai Hope played a fine knock of 37 runs from 45 balls. Sherfane Rutherford top scored for the Caribbean team with 55 runs from 61 balls with 3 fours and as many sixes. But Romario Shepherd and Justin Greaves took the game to the end. They took the equation down to 20 off 6 and Shepherd hit a maximum in the fourth ball of the over to bring it down to 9 off 2 balls. But Jacob Duffy kept his nerve and bowled two good balls to bring the victory for his team by a margin of just 7 runs.
For New Zealand, Kyle Jamieson picked up 3 wickets for 52 runs. Matt Henry, Zak Foulkes and Mitchell Santner chipped in with a wicket each.