December 26, 2008 – The West Indies cricket team was able to take the lead in the first of two Twenty/20 games against New Zealand last night (local time) by beating the Kiwis in a historic game played at Eden Park, Auckland in front a crowd estimated to be in the region of 20,000. West Indies captain, Chris Gayle and the 6’ 7” tall left-arm off-spinner, Sulieman Benn, were able to play pivotal roles in this victory with explosive hitting and accurate, economical bowling. Batting first, New Zealand was able to amass 155 runs in their 20 overs. Ross Taylor top-scored for the Kiwis with 63 runs, which included Four 4s and Four 6s, before he was comprehensively bowled by Jerome Taylor. Chris Gayle was the most successful bowler for the Windies with figures of 2 for 16 in 3 overs. Set an attainable victory target of 156 for victory, the Windies took off as a rocket with some lusty hitting from Chris Gayle despite the loss of veteran batsman, Shiv Chanderpaul, who was caught and bowled by Mills for 6 runs when the score was only 19. Gayle was joined by Xavier Marshall who partnered with him during the fireworks, taking the Windies total to 80 before he was comprehensively beaten and bowled by New Zealand’s captain, Daniel Vettori for 28. What seemed as a walk in the park for the West Indies almost turned into a disaster as the West Indies began to crumble and collapse in dramatic fashion in a way that most Caribbean supporters have grown accustomed to witnessing. Gayle stroked Five 4s and Five towering 6s in his scintillating knock of 67 off 41 balls. When he lost his wicket during the 15th over, with the score on 114, the winning target seemed a very long way ahead as the remaining batsmen continued to lose their wickets rapidly because of irrational, senseless and suicidal shots - going for unnecessary big hits and boundaries when they could have stroked the ball around in the spaces on the field for singles and twos - since the requirement was almost a run a ball. Some clever batting by Sulieman Benn and Jerome Taylor in the 20th over enabled the West Indies to level scores with the Kiwis at 155 for 8. New Zealand’s best bowler was Daniel Vettori with figures of 3 wickets for 16 runs in 4 overs. For the first time in the history of Twenty/20 cricket, both teams had to enter into a ‘Super Over’ to break the deadlock. According to the rules under this innovation, each team has to name three batsmen and one bowler. The designated bowler then has to bowl one ‘super over’ to the batsmen of the other team. The team that amasses the most runs after this over wins the game. If the team should lose two wickets within the over, then their turn at the batting crease is over. The three batsmen for the West Indies were Gayle, Marshall and Chanderpaul with Sulieman Benn as the designated bowler. The Kiwis had Ross Taylor, Jacob Oram and Brendon Mc Cullum as batsmen and Daniel Vettori as their bowler. Chris Gayle was able to blaze an amazing 25 runs off Vettori’s super over. Sulieman Benn was then able to bowl out the Kiwis within his super over for only 15 runs – finally sealing the victory for the West Indies. The final Twenty/20 match between the two evenly-matched teams will be played on December 27. By Wallace J.A INSIDE GRENADA NEWS