‘It’s only the start’

TAROUBA, Trinidad (CMC):

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH SHERFANE Rutherford is under no illusion that the West Indies are having a successful T20 World Cup even after winning against New Zealand and earning a place in the Super Eights with a perfect three wins from as many starts on Wednesday night.

The 25-year-old Guyanese left-hander defied an inexplicable batting collapse and an uneven Brian Lara Cricket Academy pitch to crack two fours and six sixes from 39 balls in a Player-of-the-Match performance that enabled the Caribbean side to post a competitive 149 for nine from their allocation of 20 overs after they were put in to bat.

The bowlers – led by pacer Alzarri Joseph with four for 19 from his allotted four overs and left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie with three for 25 from four overs – then kept their wits and restricted New Zealand to 136 for nine to formalise the third win on the bounce for Rovman Powell and his side.

Before this match, West Indies beat Papua New Guinea (PNG) by five wickets last Sunday at the Guyana National Stadium, where they also beat Uganda last Saturday by a record 134 runs – their largest margin of victory by runs in a T20I.

Victory carried the Caribbean side above Afghanistan to the top of the group, with the two set to play each other this coming Monday at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in St Lucia in the final match of the group stage of the tournament.

A win for Afghanistan against PNG on Thursday under the lights at the BLCA will also take them through to the Super Eight and practically eliminate New Zealand.

“Reaching the Super Eight, it’s one tick in the box, but it’s only the start of something big to come. Hopefully, we can keep winning, we can keep the momentum, and hopefully, we go further this year,” said Rutherford.

Speaking of the innings, Rutherford said he understood that New Zealand would have been short in the death overs, and so he just needed to cash in at the end.

His calculations were right after he inched the West Indies past 100 in the 18th over before unleashing in the final two to take the West Indies to a competitive total on a tricky pitch.

“I was just telling myself to take it deep. Me and Sammy had a talk, and I knew if we got momentum, I could make it up in the end.”

He added: “Looking at their bowling line-up, I knew they were short of two overs. I knew the two bowlers they had used to make up, I felt I could score maximum runs against them, and I think I did that well.