West Indies aim to seal ODI series against New Zealand

TOP order batsman Shamarh Brooks is hoping West Indies can continue their momentum in the second One Day International against New Zealand and seal the series with another victory at Kensington Oval, Barbados, from 2 pm, on Friday.

West Indies won the first match of the three-match series on Wednesday by five wickets.

New Zealand could only muster 190 all out in 45.2 overs, before West Indies responded with 193/5 in 39 overs.

Brooks was the player of the match hitting 79 off 91 deliveries with nine fours and one six.

Looking ahead to the second match of the series, Brooks said, “It is just to trust the processes that we have been doing, stay consistent and recovery is very important with these games day in, day out. We just got to come back strong and apply the basics and put our best foot forward and I believe we should cross the line.”

Barbadian Brooks was satisfied that he was able to help West Indies start the series convincingly.

“Wonderful feeling (to lead the West Indies home). It is my first ODI here in Barbados,” Brooks said.

He said one of his teammates encouraged him to make his first ODI at home special.

“I remember Jason Holder telling me this (Wednesday) morning I need to make it a memorable one, so that is what I did. I was just happy that we got over the line.”

On playing in front of familiar faces, Brooks said, “Very, very special (to have family and friends here). They gave me a lot of pressure even before the game, so I was happy to come out and do the best for my team, my family and my fans.”

Brooks said the wicket was tough to bat on and partnerships were crucial in helping West Indies emerge victorious.

“I think the wicket was not the easiest to bat on. We definitely had to apply ourselves out there this evening and all we said is we needed some partnerships.”

Brooks said partnerships with Shai Hope and captain Nicholas Pooran were “vital” in setting up the victory.

Brooks and Hope put on 20 for the second wicket, before Keacy Carty added 37 runs with Brooks for the third wicket. The partnership that placed West Indies in a winning position was the 75-run stand between Brooks and Pooran for the fourth wicket.

Despite topscoring for West Indies, Brooks said he would have liked to finish unbeaten.

There were multiple rain stoppages during the match.

New Zealand coach Gary Stead believes the delays made batting easier during the West Indies innings.

“The conditions in the match I guess changed quite remarkably from innings one to innings two, so it makes it really tough (to analyse). We had, I guess, a scrap on our hands to get to 190. We thought that was competitive, but then the rains came in and changed the condition of the pitch a little bit, made it skid on a bit more and made the spin bowlers fair less effective than what they were in the first innings,” Stead said.

Stead said the team which bats first in the second match may find it challenging as the wicket will be similar to the one used in the first match.

“We were told that we will be on a different wicket for the next game…but it looks basically the same. I imagine the team that wins the toss are likely to want to bowl first when the ball does grip and spin a bit more and perhaps not have the dew factor come in and make batting a bit easier in the evening.”