West Indies fall short despite Powell fireworks

New Zealand levelled the T20 series 1–1, but the West Indies stayed in the fight before falling just short. After winning the toss and bowling, WI’s seamers and Roston Chase kept a lid on things early. Matthew Forde bowled Devon Conway and Romario Shepherd removed Tim Robinson, before a burst by Mark Chapman’s pushed NZ to 207/5. Chase was the standout with 2/33, while Jayden Seales and Shepherd chipped in around the edges.

The chase stuttered to 94/6 as spin bit through the middle overs, but then Rovman Powell detonated a counterattack: 45 off 16 balls with towering leg-side sixes. Romario Shepherd (34 off 16) matched the tempo and Matthew Forde (29* off 13) kept the pressure on, flipping the equation from dead-and-buried to very gettable.

But with West Indies needing 16 off the last over and one clean strike from pinching it, Kyle Jamieson’s variations proved just enough as WI finished on 204/8, just three runs short. Powell’s surge, Shepherd’s clean hitting and Forde’s calm finish underlined the depth of WI’s lower-order power even on a tricky night for the top six. 

With the series tied after two tight finishes at Eden Park, the big positive for WI is how often their bowlers and finishers have kept them in winning positions - momentum they’ll want to carry into the deciding match on Saturday.