Last chance for woeful Windies
Three more hours, then it will be time for the Black Caps to face a real challenge.
In the six weeks since the West Indies arrived on our shores, they have offered nothing memorable on the cricket pitch, but they have one last chance tonight.
If the tourists win at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui, they will level the Twenty20 series 1-1.
If they lose – and that is the more likely outcome, even in the variable world of T20 – they will become the seventh team to have come to New Zealand, played tests and limited overs matches, and lost every single one that was completed.
Bangladesh have suffered that fate three times – at the start of last year, in 2010, and in the 2007-08 season – and they are joined by the Zimbabwean team from 2012, the West Indian team from the 1999-2000 season, and the Sri Lankan team of 1983.
It’s a group you don’t want to belong to, but this West Indies outfit will have its work cut out as it tries to avoid joining it.
The Windies first task will be to get Colin Munro out early. His runs set the Black Caps on their way to an imposing target in the first match in Nelson, and they would likely have done the same in the second match at the Mount, had rain not intervened.
Getting him out is easier said than done, and it will be West Indian spinners Samuel Badree and Ashley Nurse who have the best chance of putting him under pressure.
Against seam in this series, Munro has scored 89 runs from 32 balls, a strike rate of 278. Against spin, he has scored 29 runs from 28 balls, a strike rate of 104.
If he gets going, the Black Caps should post a competitive total with ease. If he doesn’t, someone else will have to step up.
Glenn Phillips impressed in the first-match, notching his maiden half century in international cricket, and Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson’s reputations precede them.
International rookies Tom Bruce and Anaru Kitchen make up the T20 middle order at present, and with three matches against Pakistan and a tri-series with Australia and England looming, they have plenty to play for.
Should either of them fail to make an impact, there are plenty
of others impressing in the Super Smash who would like a crack.
Can the West Indies’ bowling attack expose Bruce and Kitchen early? That is one of two questions that will define this contest.
They almost did in the last match on Monday – Kitchen was in in the ninth over, but because Munro had blasted 66 off 23, the Black Caps were already well in front.
They were 97-4 with 69 balls remaining when Kitchen arrived, replacing Bruce, and even if they’d only scored a run a ball from there, they would have still made 166, a total they would have backed themselves to defend.
That brings us to the second question: Who is going to score the West Indies’ runs?
Will Chris Gayle finally turn up? If he does, he alone might score enough.
But should he fail once more, the rest of the batsmen hardly inspire confidence. Only captain Carlos Brathwaite has a T20 record worth shouting about, and for whatever reason, he bats himself way down at No 7.
At least one of the visiting batsmen will have to make a name for himself if the West Indies are to get a win on tour.