T20 World Cup: West Indies wins over New Zealand by 13 runs, qualifies for Super 8 stage

West Indies: West Indies secured a 13-run win over New Zealand in the 26^th match and qualified for the Super 8 stage of the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup Tournament on Thursday. Hosted at Brian Lara Cricket Academy, the team restricted New Zealand to secure their place at the Super 8 round.

The toss was won by New Zealand which chose to bowl first; however, the decision was not in favour of the tournament. The West Indies with a significant inning of 68 runs from 39 balls of Guyanese batsman Sherfane Rutherford have set the target of 149 runs with 9 outs after 20 overs.

While receiving the target of 150 runs, New Zealand tried to win the match, but the bowling of West Indies restricted the team to 136 runs with 9 out in the end. With the bowling, Antiguan Alzarari Joseph took four wickets for West Indies with 19 runs and Guyanese Gudakes Moti took three wickets with 25 runs. These players have remained the match-winners of the game as they secured the spot in the T20 World Cup tournament.

With this victory, the team secured first place in the standing of the group C with six points after defeating Uganda and Papua New Guinea. New Zealand stood at the last position in the World Cup group C standing and West Indies reached out to the Super 8 round of the tournament.

Now, West Indies will play the last match of the stage against Afghanistan on June 18, 2024, however, the result of the match will not affect West Indies’ standing in the group round. With the victory, the team joined India, South Africa, and Australia and became the fourth team to qualify for the Super 8 stage.

The Caribbean region has been hosting the matches of the T20 World Cup at different stadiums in Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, and Barbados. The finals of the tournament will be held in Barbados on June 29, 2024.