Carty ‘happy’ despite missing out on personal milestone in Windies win over New Zealand
West Indies 268 for 3 (Carty 95, Hope 87*; Bracewell 1-33) beat New Zealand 267 all out (Mitchell 65, Young 49, Alzarri 4-41) by 7 wickets
A wry smile spread across Keacy Carty's face under the lights at the Providence Stadium. He extended his arms upward to collect the bat he had flipped in the air.
He had just been dismissed, and realization had dawned on him: five runs away from a hundred, he was caught at deep midwicket trying to slog sweep Michael Bracewell for six.
At the fall of his wicket, the West Indies were in the driver’s seat, needing 45 from 38 to go 1-0 up in their three-match One-Day International series against New Zealand.
Carty’s 95 was a welcome return to form. It was his first half-century in 12 innings. Had he gotten to three figures, it would have been his fifth ton in the format. The right-hander, however, insists he was simply pleased to have been resourceful.
“Not really too big on personal milestones,” he said dryly. “Obviously, I'm going to take it because I was in a drought of form, but I'm just happy to have contributed to the win today.”
By comparison with what has come through the Caribbean in recent times, Carty has been a find for Windies. Both he and Sherfane Rutherford, who were both averaging 41-plus before the start of this series, have been complementary pieces to the ever-reliable runs provided by Shai Hope.
The issue for the West Indies is that runs had dried up for both at the same time. After scoring six fifties and one hundred in his first 11 innings, Rutherford has just one half-century in his last 10.
Meanwhile, Carty’s 103 against England last June had pushed his average to 50.11. Since then, he’d managed 217 runs in 11 innings at 19.72 before last evening’s game.
While his match-winning 131-run (154 balls) third-wicket partnership with skipper Hope (87*) batted New Zealand out of the contest, it wasn’t always a straightforward task. The wicket was on the slower side, and the Black Caps' attack was constantly asking questions.
“I really wanted to start well, which I found I did,” he explained. “Things swung back in their favour just a little bit, and I told myself, ‘just stick with it,’ eventually it's going to turn around and that's what happened, and we came out with a [win].”
Their batting positions haven’t always been certain, still the Hope-Carty dynamic is one the West Indies have come to rely on. In their latest outing, they brought up 1000 ODI runs as a pair.
“It (batting with Hope) definitely makes my job easier, you know, he's a wonderful player in this format, and I would say all around.”
Alzarri Joseph had earlier led the regional bowlers with figures of 4 for 41 to help dismiss New Zealand for 267 in 48.5 overs.
Debutant Vitel Lawes wasn’t far behind. The 19-year-old displayed what the hype is about, wielding all the magic the Caribbean side has been missing from a threatening wrist-spinner to claim 3 for 54 for a promising start to his international career.