Sarwan earns Gayle praise

West Indies' Ramnaresh Sarwan returned to form with an unbeaten 67

Ramnaresh Sarwan’s return to form could not have come at a better time for West Indies as they beat New Zealand with one ball to spare.

Man-of-the-match Sarwan hit an unbeaten 67 and put on 48 runs with Denesh Ramdin, who smacked 28 of 18 balls, to get Windies home by five wickets on the Duckworth-Lewis method against New Zealand in Christchurch.

It was a tense finish to a match reduced to 28 overs apiece because of a four-hour delay for bad weather.

Sarwan had a lean Test series against the Black Caps but has rediscovered his touch following a half-century in the second Twenty20 in Hamilton.

Captain Chris Gayle was delighted to see him back amongst the runs as West Indies successfully chased down their revised target of 158.

“He’s been struggling in the Tests and it’s good to see him in the runs and hopefully we’ll see him go from strength to strength from now on,” the West Indies skipper said.

Sarwan was quick to praise Ramdin’s contribution after he scored 21 runs off just 10 balls to set the tourists on their way to victory and a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

“We knew that we needed a partnership at the end of the innings. Denesh came in and played really well,” Sarwan said.

“He faced something like 18 balls and got pretty close to 30. He came in and batted really well and we finished the game well.”

Sarwan’s 65-ball 67 included just three boundaries and one six.

“It was pretty slow to start with but I think it was important to try and occupy the crease and pick up as many singles as you can to try and get into some rhythm,” he explained. “It paid off at the end.”

Fidel Edwards was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets

Gayle was also pleased with the improved fielding and bowling effort from his side, who kept New Zealand to 152 for eight off their 28 overs.

Fidel Edwards was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3-26 off his six overs. Spinner Nikita Miller and paceman Jerome Taylor also returned good figures, both taking 2-26 off six overs.

“The guys played some good cricket,” said Gayle. “I thought to restrict New Zealand to that total (was a good effort).

“(Edwards and Miller) both took key wickets - Brendon McCullum early and Ross Taylor. Those guys are very dangerous so getting them early set New Zealand on the back foot.

“I thought we were tremendous in the field and caught pretty well and hopefully we can continue that in the next game because we know New Zealand are going to come hard at us.”

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori felt his side had not really got enough runs on the board despite the efforts of Grant Elliott (30 not out) and Jacob Oram (25) late in the innings.

“It was hard to build that momentum,” he said. “When Jacob and Grant were batting they had to turn it over and it’s not the ideal situation where you want to be at the end of a shortened game.

“You want to be able to swing from the hip and see what comes.

“We were just a little short but we got ourselves back in the game once again with some great bowling and fielding.

“I thought we started well again with (opening bowlers) Kyle Mills and Tim Southee but unfortunately just let it slip at the end.

“Even at the death there I thought he (Mills) did a great job. He gave us a chance to pull the game back our way. Just at the end we let it slip a little bit.