Momentum has shifted away from West Indies, says Kane Williamson

New Zealand’s stand-in skipper Kane Williamson has said that his team has gained momentum after an easy 88-run victory in the third One Day International (ODI) against West Indies.

The Black Caps were tip-toe after doing going 2-0 down in the series. Yet, they bounced back in style, crushing the opposition quite easily in Wednesday’s encounter at Warner Park.

Batting first, the Kiwis posted a handsome total of 249 runs on the board. Rob Nicol and Nathan McCullum scored brilliant half centuries to steer their side to a decent score.

In reply, the Windies were completely unable to do anything special with the bat. Apart from Andre Russell, no West Indian could go beyond 20-run mark. As a result, the entire Caribbean line-up collapsed on 161.

New Zealand’s win has kept the series alive, and Williamson is enormously delighted over his team’s comprehensive victory. Despite showing satisfaction at his team’s performance, the skipper stated that the Kiwis still need to improve in the batting department.

"I think the batting is an area we need to look at in terms of turning those 50s, which are really starts, into big scores in order to make the difference in an innings and that’s an aspect we are looking to improve," said Williamson, who has taken over
from the injured Ross Taylor.

"It’s a great shift in momentum, hopefully, and we put a few things into practice in terms of lessons from the other games. It was nice to get a win away in such a pressure game," he added.

The West Indians were relying heavily on Chris Gayle, who failed to spark at the top order. The batting giant could only score 15 runs before losing his wicket to Trent Boult. Williamson described that Gayle’s wicket was the turning point.

"[Gayle has] put us away in every game this series so far, so to get him out really boosted the lads in the field and that’s where probably things started," he explained.

"Trent bowled really well. He executed his plans well. We were discussing them at the top of his run-up and he was quite threatening with that new ball."

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Posted by Rana Nasir Ghafoor on Jul 13 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry