Brandon King, Shamarh Brooks give WI a consolation win over NZ in third T20I

Halfcenturies from West Indies openers Brandon King and Shamarh Brooks helped the hosts defeat New Zealand by eight wickets and avoid a series sweep by the visitors in the third and final T20 International at Sabina Park on Monday ISTKing slammed 53 and his opening partner Brooks hit an unbeaten 56 as West Indies overhauled New Zealands score of 1457 for the loss of just two wickets with an over to spare and earn a consolation win going into the ODI series beginning on August 17The Kiwi toporder all reached double figures during their respective innings but only one batter scored more than 24 as the hosts bowlers put the clamps on the visitorsGlenn Phillips looked the best of the New Zealand batters with the No5 smashing 41 from just 26 deliveries to help the visitors post a belowpar score of 1457 from their allotted 20 oversAfter scores of 1855 in the first match of the series and 2155 in the second Kane Williamsons side would have been disappointed with their efforts after they won the toss and elected to bat firstWhile New Zealand opener Martin Guptill only managed 15 before he was bowled by Akeal Hosein the veteran did enough to become the leading runscorer in the history of mens T20I Guptill has now made a total of 3497 T20I runs during his career with his latest knock helping him overtake India captain Rohit Sharma 3487 narrowly according to ICCRohit and thirdplaced Virat Kohli 3308 will get the chance to move to the top when India take part in the Asia Cup that commences later this month in the UAEWest Indies made four changes to their XI and the decision to rest skipper Nicholas Pooran paid off as the hosts toporder looked composed in chasing down New Zealands score with easeAlso Read Biggest challenge for Australia is coming to India and winning Glenn McGrathRighthander Brandon King 53 got the hosts off to a flyer on his return from injury while fellow opener Shamarh Brooks 56 not out played a more cautious role as the hosts put on 102 for the opening wicket to leave New Zealand requiring a miracleRovman Powell 27 not out then came in to guide the run chase home with the standin West Indies captain smashing Jimmy Neesham for six on the final delivery of the penultimate over to seal the contestThe decision by the West Indies to play two spinners proved pivotal in the result with Hosein 218 and Hayden Walsh 116 proving difficult to dispatch and pacer Odean Smith 329 reaping the rewards with career best figuresKing who won the Player of the Match award for his impressive halfcentury said the bowlers deserved much of the praise for the victoryToday credit has to be given to the bowlers he said after the match They did an excellent job for us and made my job that much easierWilliamson said his side was outplayed on the day with New Zealand now turning their attention to the threematch ODI series that commences on WednesdayThe West Indies adapted to the conditions nicely Williamson said We knew that with 140 things would have to go well for us with the ball and they outplayed us todayBrief scores New Zealand 1457 in 20 overs Glenn Phillips 41 Odean Smith 329 Akeal Hosein 228 lost to West Indies 1502 in 19 overs Brandon King 53 Shamarh Brooks 56 not out by eight wicketsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever