End of the road for Windies U19s

ENONI, South Africa (CMC):

Windies dropped four catches, missed a vital run out while conceding 38 runs from the last three full overs, as they squandered a winning position to crash to a shock two-wicket defeat to New Zealand, and miss out on a spot in the final four of the ICC Under-19 World Cup here yesterday.

Defending 238 at Willowmoore Park, the Caribbean side reduced the young Kiwis to 153 for eight in the 35th over after left-arm spinner Ashmead Nedd had ripped through the innings with an excellent spell of three for 33 from his 10 overs.

But eventual Man-of-the-Match Kristian Clarke, with an unbeaten 46 and Joey Field, 38 not out, displayed composure and maturity beyond their years in a record, unbroken ninth wicket stand of 86, to turn the game on its head and propel New Zealand to victory with two balls to spare.

Clarke belted three fours and a six off 42 deliveries while Field faced 58 balls and counted three fours.

With the pressure growing, Windies’ fielding fell apart and discipline left their bowling, and New Zealand capitalised to whittle down a required asking rate from nearly 11, by taking 14 runs from both the 47th and 48th overs and another 10 from the 49th over.

Windies missed a big moment off the last ball of the 49th when Field raced back to the striker’s end for a second run but wicketkeeper Leonardo Julien failed to gather the return which would have found the batsman short of his ground.

With a manageable seven runs needed off the last over bowled by seamer Nyeem Young, Clarke scrambled a single off the first ball before Field struck a sweetly-timed straight boundary off the next ball.

Another sharp single left the scores tied and Clarke carved the fourth ball – a full length delivery – to the cover boundary to break the Windies’ hearts.

New Zealand had earlier gotten 33 from Simon Keene, 32 from wicketkeeper Quinn Sunde while Fergus Lellman struck 29 and opener Rhys Mariu, 26, in a stuttering start to their run chase.

Fast bowlers Joshua James (2-45) and Matthew Forde (2-64) claimed two wickets apiece to help give Weindies the early advantage.

SCOREBOARD

WINDIES

*K Melius c Lellman b Hancock 17

+L Julien c Ashok b Field 4

K Anderson b Keene 33

K McKenzie b Clarke 99

A Morris lbw b Clarke 31

N Young c Lellman b Tashkoff 1

M Patrick c Ashok b Clarke 1

M Forde c Ashok b Tashkoff 9

J James lbw b Clarke 18

A Nedd lbw b Field 0

J Seales not out 9

Extras (b1, lb1, w14) 16

TOTAL (all out, 47.5 overs) 238

Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Julien), 2-32 (Melius), 3-110 (Anderson), 4-183 (Morris), 5-184 (Young), 6-191 (Patrick), 7-205 (Forde), 8-205 (Nedd), 9-238 (James), 10-238 (McKenzie)

Bowling: Forde 9-0-64-2, Seales 6-1-21-0, James 8-0-45-2, Young 7.4-0-55-1, Nedd 10-0-33-3, Patrick 9-0-18-0.

NEW ZEALAND

R Mariu lbw b James 26

O White c Morris b Forde 0

F Lellman c Forde b James 29

*J Tashkoff c Julien b Young 6

+Q Sunde lbw b Forde 32

S Keene c Julien b Nedd 33

B Wheeler-Greenall b Nedd 16

A Ashok c & b Nedd 0

J Field not out 38

K Clarke not out 46

Extras (lb3, w9, nb1) 13

TOTAL (8 wkts, 49.4 overs) 239

Did not bat: D Hancock.

Fall of wickets: 1-4 (White), 2-52 (Mariu), 3-66 (Lellman), 4-67 (Tashkoff), 5-118 (Sunde), 6-148 (Keene), 7-150 (Ashok), 8-153 (Wheeler-Greenall)

Bowling: Forde 9-0-64-2, Seales 6-1-21-0, James 8-0-45-2, Young 7.4-0-55-1, Nedd 10-0-33-3, Patrick 9-0-18-0.

Result: New Zealand won by two wickets.

Series: New Zealand advance to semi-final.

Man-of-the-Match: Kristian Clarke.

Toss: Windies.

Umpires: Sam Nogajski, Roland Black; TV – Anil Chaudhary.