Agencies
Wellington, March 21
Martin Guptill recorded the highest ever World Cup score as New Zealand thrashed West Indies by 143 runs in their quarter-final in Wellington.
Guptill hit 237 not out from 163 balls with 24 fours and 11 sixes, surpassing the record set by Chris Gayle with his 217 against Zimbabwe earlier in the tournament.
After setting a massive target of 394, Trent Boult took 4-44, picking up the first four West Indies wickets inside the first 10 overs in another devastating spell of left-arm seam bowling that saw him reclaim top spot as the leading wicket taker for the tournament with 19.
Chris Gayle hit eight sixes in a 33-ball 61 but when he departed - bowled by Adam Milne (1-42) - any faint hopes of a West Indies win had all but faded.
Some colourful cameos from the lower order prolonged the inevitable before West Indies fell to 250 all out with 19.3 overs remaining, booking New Zealand’s semi-final spot against South Africa in Auckland on Tuesday.
Brendon McCullum’s men won the toss and chose to have first use of the Wellington wicket, but their innings could have taken a very different turn had Guptill not been dropped on the third ball of the innings - Marlon Samuels the guilty party, shelling the chance off Jerome Taylor.
Taylor did pick up a wicket in the fifth over, that of McCullum for 12, to a fantastic catch over his shoulder from Jason Holder at deep cover.
Kane Williamson (33) and Ross Taylor (42) provided useful support to Guptill – the latter in a 143-run partnership for the third wicket.
Guptill brought up his hundred off 111 balls in the 35th over and when the next wicket did fall, Taylor run out, New Zealand were in a strong position at 232-3 with just over 10 overs to go.
A further 153 runs were added in the final 10 overs as again the West Indies attack was carted around the ground.
Corey Anderson (15 of 16 balls) couldn’t quite get going, but Grant Elliott (27 off 11) played a useful cameo, although the star attraction came at the other end from Guptill, who added 92 runs to his personal score in the final 10 overs.
Those runs came from just 32 balls as he became the first New Zealander to score a double-hundred in ODI cricket and then passed Gayle’s record in the 48th over, with the Jamaican giant coming over to congratulate him in person.
New Zealand fell just short of the 400-mark, but Guptil did send a final six in the last over on to the roof of the 'Cake Tin' and a chase of 394 was always likely to be out of the Windies' reach.And so it proved. Though Gayle got after Tim Southee (2-82) and Daniel Vettori (2-58) early - hitting the latter for three straight sixes in one over - Boult ripped through the rest of the top order at the other end.
He bowled his full 10 overs – including three maidens – straight through, picking up the wickets of Johnson Charles (3), Lendl Simmons (12), Samuels (27) - to an incredible catch on the boundary by Vettori - and Denesh Ramdin (0).
That left the West Indies chase in tatters at 80-4 in the 10th over, and although Gayle soon brought up his fifty in just 26 balls, his wicket to Milne all but ended the show.
Jonathan Carter played nicely for 32 and Darren Sammy (27 off 16), Andre Russell (20 off 11) and Holder (42 off 26) provided some late thrills and spills before he was the final wicket to fall, holing out in the deep off Vettori.
