Wellington, March 21: Martin Guptill (237 n o, 163b, 24×4, 11×6) rewrote record books as co-hosts New Zealand crushed West Indies by 143 runs to enter the semifinals of the cricket World Cup at the Westpac Stadium here Saturday. Riding on the Guptill classic, the Kiwis totaled 394 for the loss of seven wickets and then restricted the Windies to 250 all out in 30.3 overs on a hapless day for the bowlers of both the sides save Trent Boult (4/44 off 10).
Guptill became the second highest individual scorer in ODIs with his 237 only 27 short of Rohit Sharma’s 264 against Sri Lanka last year. Guptill also became the highest individual scorer in the World Cup beating Chris Gayle’s 215 against Zimbabwe also recorded in the same edition of the tournament. He became only the second batsman to bat through an innings, equaling Gary Kirsten’s effort achieved against the UAE during the 1996 World Cup.
Guptill was class personified during his knock as he cut loose with a flurry of boundaries against. His first hundred came off 111 balls, but his second took only 51 balls as he stroked the ball sweetly to all parts of the ground. The worst to suffer were Andre Russell who went for 18 runs in the 43rd over and prior to that left-arm spinner Suleiman Benn who went for 17 in the 41st over. It was just not slogging but shots following the cricket manual.
West Indies started the chase in earnest with an injured Chris Gayle taking the battle to the Kiwis. When skipper Brendon McCullum introduced Daniel Vettori in the seventh over of the innings, the southpaw hit the left-arm spinner for three huge sixes. But then Gayle had too much of a mountain to climb as wickets fell regularly at the other end. When Adam Milne dismissed Gayle off the inside edge with the score reading 120, the hopes ended for the Calypso cricketers. PTI