Sarwan Guides West Indies To Victory

Sarwan Guides West Indies To Victory

Ramnaresh Sarwan (right) guided the West Indies to victory.

©Action Images / Reuters / Andy Clark Picture Supplied by Action Images

Sarwan Guides West Indies To Victory

Fidel Edwards finished with three for 26 in six overs.

©Action Images / Reuters / Andy Clark Picture Supplied by Action Images

Ramnaresh Sarwan hit an unbeaten half-century and Fidel Edwards picked up three wickets as the West Indies beat New Zealand by five wickets to win the second One Day International in Christchurch via the Duckworth/Lewis method.

Edwards picked up three wickets as New Zealand reached 152 for eight in 28 overs before Sarwan's 67 not out helped the tourists reach their revised target of 158 with a ball to spare.

Heavy rain and hail stopped play after just 6.5 overs and after a lengthy delay, play resumed as a 28 overs per side match.

After the first match was abandoned due to rain in Queenstown, the hosts had made their way to 26 for one when the downpour interrupted proceedings.

Four hours of play was lost in all. Brendon McCullum (1) fell early and the the penultimate ball before the rain arrived saw Jesse Ryder top-edging Edwards for six.

After the resumption, Ryder smashed another six as he made 32 but regular wickets stymied the hosts. Edwards also removed Jacob Oram (25) and Daniel Vettori (0) but some late blows from Grant Elliott (30 not out) helped New Zealand late on.

There were two wickets apiece for pacer Jerome Taylor and spinner Nikita Miller.

Chris Gayle (36) added 47 runs in quick time with Sarwan for the second wicket after Sewnarine Chattergoon departed early but New Zealand hit back with the wickets of Xavier Marshall (2), Brendan Nash (15) and Kieron Pollard (3).

However, Sarwan, who hit three fours and a six in 65 balls, combined with Denesh Ramdin (28 not out from 18 balls) to take 14 runs from the penultimate over bowled by Jeetan Patel and four from the final over by Tim Southee to put the West Indies into a 1-0 lead with three games to go.

© Cricket World 2008