‘It’s just the beginning’ | Sport

TAROUBA, Trinidad (CMC):

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

The 25-year-old Guyanese left-hander defied an inexplicable batting collapse and an uneven pitch from the Brian Lara Cricket Academy to score two fours and six sixes from 39 balls in a Player-of-the-Match performance that enabled the Caribbean team set to post a competitive 149 for nine from their allotment of 20 overs after coming into 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 about them and restricted New Zealand to 136 for nine to seal their third win. formalize. the jump for Rovman Powell and his team.

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

The victory lifted the Caribbean side above Afghanistan to the top of the group, with the two set to play each other next Monday at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in St. Lucia in the final match of the tournament’s group stage.

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

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

Speaking of the innings, Rutherford said he understood that New Zealand would have fallen short in the death overs, so he simply had to concede at the end.

His calculations were right after he took West Indies to 100 in the 18th over before cutting loose in the last two to take West Indies to a competitive total on a tricky pitch.

“I told myself I had to dive deep into it. Me and Sammy had a talk, and I knew if we got momentum, I could eventually make it up.

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