It didn't seem right to simply label this a Cricket World Cup quarterfinal. The whirlwind that hit Westpac Stadium contained the Harlem Globetrotters of cricket in a Twenty20 match on steroids, as New Zealand won by 143 runs. Victory over West Indies, and direct passage to Auckland for a blockbuster semifinal against South Africa on Tuesday, was hardly in doubt from the point Martin Guptill reached his seventh one-day international century, off a sedate 111 deliveries.
Then it all just went a bit crazy at the Cake Tin. And so did the packed house of 30,268, screaming and chanting Guptill's name and almost lifting the roof, which he clattered with one of his 11 sixes, a 110-metre monster strike. Add his name to the honour roll of Craig McMillan, Michael Lumb and Colin Munro among those who sat a white Kookaburra on the hot tin roof in Wellington.
Guptill obliterated record after record and just kept swinging for an unbeaten 237 off 163 balls, the innings of his life that most adjectives didn't do justice to. He broke his own New Zealand ODI record of 189 not out, against England in Southampton in June 2013, and joined Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle and Rohit Sharma as those to top 200 in an ODI. Only Sharma's 264 for India against Sri Lanka in Kolkata last year sits ahead of him.
full report and video highlights at stuff.nz.co
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How d fact gupta done it??! Didnt jt, even, the least had this bloke, bassiddee?
In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com
The West Indies team is always on the other side of records being broken. Any team who wants to break records, just play against these West Indies bowlers who seem to have no imagination. All they do is run up and throw down the same predictable short ball every time. Yes, occasionally they make a change like throwing down a full toss that is always in the right place to be easily dispatched over the boundary.
Its time for the West Indies to go on a recruitment drive around the Caribbean to find some big, strong, smart, proud, young bowlers and train them to be good bowlers of international standard. They also need a batting coach. I'm sure one could be found among the large number of former great West Indian batsmen of the 70s, 80s and 90s. Our batsmen lack the fundamentals and need to be taught just as it is done in other countries.
If the West Indies do these things I have no doubt that in no time West Indies cricket will be back on top.
Catches win matches........had marlon taken that catch, this would not even be a story....man dropped on 4, goes on to bury our rass.........
In reply to cherri Bang on.
In reply to cherri
It is called "management" look how we drove Dwayne Smith to the bench with all the negative energy.
New Zealand's management believed in Martin Guptill's match-winning ability and stood by him through a nearly two-year period of rocky form.
In reply to rubberd
And every decision management make smacks of desperation....we have low tolerance levels when compared to the other cricket playing nations out there, we want instant gratification and if we doan see it we shift.......recently I told a man in the BCA the only instant gratification these people will find is on pornhub.........I remember Bennett King telling the WICB at the time he was brought in, that there is no quick fix where west indies cricket is concerned, he told them, take things in baby steps and we will get there, well we know where that got him.........everyone who come on board is going to tell them the same thing, the only problem is that west indies cricket gine be languishing at the bottom for sometime because the management around west indies cricket doan want to hear the word TIME........we were losing longer than 8 years....you see where I going right......suppose he was around then.......
