New Zealand defeated West Indies by 143 runs to enter the World Cup semi-finals. Set a target of 394 runs, West Indies were bowled out for 250 runs in 30.3 overs.
Earlier, batting first, New Zealand opened 393 for six in the allotted 50 overs on the back of a record performance from opener Martin Guptill as West Indies
attacked failed to keep wickets. Chris Gayle (61 off 33 balls) stood out, but no one else had a half-century. A good alliance could not be formed.
Johnson Charles (3) and Dinesh Ramdin (0) failed miserably while Marlon Samuels (27), Lendal Simmons (12), Jonathan Carter (32), Darren Sammy (27) and Andra Russell (20) also showed excellence. Captain Jason Holder (42 off 26 balls) made a brilliant fight to take Windies past 200. The tailgaters also struggled but the score reached 250. They reached 250 in 30 overs but kept losing wickets at one end.
For New Zealand, Trent Boult took four wickets for 44 runs. Team Southee and Daniel Vettori took two wickets each.
After winning the toss and going into bat, New Zealand had a clear game plan. Guptill scored a double century with 11 sixes and 24 boundaries from 163 balls. Guptal scored his second century in this World Cup. Guptal scored the second highest individual score in one day today. India’s Rohit Sharma’s unbeaten run of 264 runs still stands. With this, Guptill owns the honor of being the highest score achieved by a New Zealand player in the World Cup.
Guptill scored 143 runs with Taylor for the third wicket. Captain McCullum (12) Kane Williamson (33), Ross Taylor (42) Corey Anderson (15), Grand Iliad (27) and Luke Ronchi (9) were the other scores, with Vettori Guptill remaining unbeaten on eight runs.
