Gayle lashes out again, West Indies win again

It was yet another Chris Gayle show as he blasted 125 with the bat along with Marlon Samuels who made 101, to take West Indies past 300 which set up a comfortable win for the hosts to go 2-0 up in the 5-match series.

This has not happened very often but given the performance that the Windies were showing this series, they went in as favourites for this game. Rain was predicted for this match but thankfully, it stayed away and bright sunshine was awaiting the players. Kane Williamson it was who won the toss for New Zealand and elected to bowl.

His bowlers struck early, with Tim Southee getting Lendl Simmons in the 4th over. After that, it was a long wait for the Kiwis. Chris Gayle showed his explosive form as he started to pummel the bowlers. West Indies raced to 58/1 by the end of the Quick Start Overs and it was seeming as if a big total was on the cards today.

The duo continued their belligerent hitting and added 26 runs in Powerplay 2. Tarun Nethula finally got rid of Smith but that was the least that the Kiwis could do. In came Marlon Samuels and another partnership assumed a big form. Samuels and Gayle took the attack to the cleaners and raised 129 runs for the third wicket before Gayle finally perished to Southee, after scoring a blistering hundred.

36/1 came in Powerplay 3 and West Indies were losing steam towards the end. Marlon Samuels too reached his century but West Indies just managed 69/2 in the Extreme Performance Overs, reaching 315/5, when at one stage, they were looking to cross 350. Centuries fro,m Gayle and Samuels, with Gayle top scoring on 125 and a Batting Momentum of 196. Tim Southee picked up 3/55 in 10 overs and finished with a Bowling Efficiency of 151.

Have a look at the scorecard.

In reply, the Kiwis lost Rob Nicol early but did fairly well to reach 51/1 by the end of the Quick Start Overs. Daniel Flynn departed in the 12th over and spin was beginning to show its presence in the form of Sunil Narine. Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson steadied the proceedings a touch, scoring 22 runs in Powerplay 2.

Guptill and Latham fell in quick succession and Bradley Watling gave some good support to Williamson. But the Kiwis never really got going and struggled to be at par with the required run-rate. Powerplay 3 was taken with the view of scoring some quick runs but they managed just 37 runs for the loss of 3 wickets.

In the end, they managed to reach 260, losing by 55 runs, giving a bit of a fight, but they were always going to be short. Bradley Watling finished with an unbeaten 72 and a Batting Momentum of 112. Ravi Rampaul was the pick of the bowlers with 3/50 in 9 overs and a Bowling Efficiency of 135.

West Indies finished with a Castrol Index of 56 while New Zealand earned 44 points.

Marlon Samuels was named the Man Of The Match and ended as the best performer according to the Castrol Index, with 77 points. For New Zealand, Bradley Watling was the best with a value of 45.

The third ODI will be played at Basseterre on Wednesday, July 11, 2012 at 1330 GMT (1900 IST).