Mitchell Santner stars as New Zealand beat West Indies in T20 series opener
West Indies' season of white-ball woe continued on Wednesday when New Zealand completed a 13-run win in the first T20 International of a three-match series at Sabina Park in Jamaica. Fresh from a successful European sojourn, the Black Caps posted a formidable 185 for five batting first in a rain-interrupted innings before their premier bowlers combined to limit the Caribbean side to 172 for seven in reply. Since getting the better of Bangladesh 2-0 in a T20I duel, the West Indies have been swept 3-0 by the Bangladeshis and India in successive One-Day International series before going down 4-1 to the Indians in another T20I campaign immediately preceding this assignment. New Zealand almost paid for a period of complacency towards the end of the match as an explosive unbroken 58-run eighth-wicket partnership between Romario Shepherd (31 not out) and Odean Smith (27 not out) gave the hosts a glimmer of hope after they had crashed to 114 for seven in the 16th over. But they were left with too much to do as "Man of the Match" Mitchell Santner's haul of three for 19 ripped the heart of the West Indies batting as he claimed the wickets of captain Nicholas Pooran first ball before adding Shimron Hetmyer and top-scorer Shamarh Brooks (42) to his list of victims.
