A Poor showing early in their innings saw the West Indies fall to a 20 run defeat at the hands of New Zealand in Port Elizabeth. At 80 for six there appeared to be no chance but rising star Ramnaresh Sarwan and veteran Ridley Jacobs combined to offer some hope with a stand of 98.
However, when they both departed the asking rate rose to 12 an over from the final four and the tail-enders could not overhaul New Zealand's 241 for seven.
Having watched their team-mates press the self-destruct button during a disastrous five-over spell early on, the 22-year-old Sarwan and Jacobs, 13 years his senior, raised expectations to leave Windies needing 85 from the last 10 overs.
Sarwan belied his relative youth to lead the fightback as a couple of classy off drives and cuts eased him to 75 from 99 balls, although he found a willing partner in Jacobs (50), whose approach was much more direct and powerful.
However, with the quest for runs becoming more desperate they were forced to take risks and when, in the 44th over, Sarwan tried a forcing shot off left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori the ball found its way off his pads onto his stumps. His departure for 75 off 99 balls brought the hard-hitting Vasbert Drakes to the crease but the initiative now had to come from Jacobs.
He launched Styris over midwicket for six and then added a single to complete his half-century but in the same over a wild swipe took the outside edge and he perished to a superb full-length diving Jacob Oram catch at third man. And when Nixon McLean was involved in a farcical run-out, ending up in the same crease as the static batsman Drakes, the game was over.
Filed by Johnny Proby
