West Indies 8-157 (Darren Sammy 43*, Lendl Simmons 34, Mitchell McClenaghan 5-58) beat New Zealand 156 (Brendon McCullum 51, Nathan McCullum 47, Dwayne Bravo 4-44, Jason Holder 2-21) by two wickets.
A brilliant innings from the West Indian all rounder, Darren Sammy, brought his team an astonishing win against the Black Caps in a low scoring encounter.
The Kiwis were bowled out for 156 mere runs in 42.1 overs and the Caribbeans smashed 157 for the loss of eight wickets with 22.3 overs to spare.
Darren Sammy (West Indies) was announced ‘Player of the match’ for his unbeaten aggressive knock of 43 off 27 balls.
The first One Day International of the five match series was played on Thursday, December 26, 2013, at Eden Park, Auckland.
Earlier, Dwayne Bravo won the toss for the West Indies and invited the hosts to bat first on a seaming track. The decision paid off surprisingly when the Kiwis lost their four top order batsmen for just 32 runs. The skipper of the home side, Brendon McCullum, tried to combine the innings together but the wickets kept on crumbling at the other side regularly. He went past the 5000 runs mark in ODIs with a boundary and reached his 26th limited overs fifty in the 30th over.
The Black Caps were reeling at 7-93 when Nathan McCullum got together with Brendon McCullum who became the next victim at 104 for 51. The first contributed 47 as the home side managed 156 before their innings was folded back with 47 balls still available.
Dwayne Bravo was the main wicket taker with four, Jason Holder and Ravi Pampaul got two each whereas Sunil Narine held one.
West Indies had an identical beginning by losing their three super starts for 32 when Lendle Simmons was fighting hard at his end. The rival bowlers carried on with their lethal bowling spell and he was the fifth batsman who went back to the pavilion for 34. The sixth wicket fell at 96 when Darren Sammy took over the challenge with a little assistance at the other end. He opted to attack, punished the Black Caps bowlers at will and hit the winning four on the third delivery of the 28th over. Sammy secured his end for 43 off 27 balls with 3 mighty sixes and 5 fours as the Caribbeans powered 8-157 in 27.3 overs.
Mitchell McClenaghan was the star performer with five wickets, Kyle Mills chipped in with two whereas James Neesham claimed one wicket.
West Indies clinched the interesting encounter by a narrow margin of two wickets and lead the series at 1-0.
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