Super Samuels puts West Indies in last four

THE West Indies marched into the World Twenty20 semi-finals after beating New Zealand in a nail-biting Super Over.

Set 140 for victory in Pallekele, New Zealand looked on course for much of their innings as captain Ross Taylor led the charge with 62 from 40 deliveries.

But a late spell of tight bowling by the Windies attack provided decisive in slowing the Black Caps’ charge, with Sunil Narine’s three for 20, including ten dot balls, the stand-out performance.

The match boiled down to final-ball shootout, with New Zealand needing two runs for victory, but when Doug Bracewell could manage just one from Marlon Samuels’ delivery, the Kiwis were left stranded on 139 for seven and a Super Over was required.

Samuels was the hero for the Windies in the additional overs, restricting New Zealand to 17 with ball in hand, before hitting the winning six after being chosen alongside Chris Gayle to face Tim Southee.

The Windies struggled to build a full head of steam in their 20 overs, with Gayle’s 14-ball 30, featuring three fours and two sixes, their top score, Southee doing most of the damage with 3-21.

Taylor anchored the New Zealand reply with a captain’s performance bringing a deserved half-century but his fellow batsmen failed to back him up, with Brendon McCullum (22), Martin Guptill (21) and James Franklin (14) the only other Kiwis to reach double figures.

New Zealand went into the final over needing 14 runs for victory but when Sammy handed the ball to Samuels for the first time in the match, he stopped New Zealand just short.