Lennox leads New Zealand to series advantage with West Indies stumble

New Zealand lead the series after another big performance from Lennox and a West Indies batting collapse.

Lennox stars again

Lennox backed up his previous match with another key performance. He was central to New Zealand taking control. West Indies lost wickets in a cluster and couldn’t build momentum. The collapse let New Zealand take full advantage. With the win, New Zealand go 1-0 up in the series and put pressure on West Indies heading into the next match.

Jayden Lennox followed his five-wicket haul in the second match with 4 for 52 - meaning he equaled the most wickets for a New Zealand spinner in a bilateral ODI series - as West Indies lost 6 for 19, to fall from 121 for 3 to 140 for 9, which brought the end of their innings after John Campbell had been forced to retire hurt with what appeared a hamstring injury. An unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 52 between Tom Latham and Dean Foxcroft then ensured New Zealand overcame a wobble to ease across the line.

Tough batting conditions

Same pitch as game 1. Turn wasn’t as big as last match, but batting was still not easy. Will Young and Henry Nicholls saw off the powerplay carefully. Nicholls survived 2 lbw calls vs Gudakesh Motie and Alzarri Joseph thanks to DRS. The game turned when Lawes came on. With just his 2nd ball he skidded one through to knock over Nicholls’ off stump. That wicket changed the complexion of the chase.

Mark Chapman was then beaten on the inside edge as he played forward to fall lbw and Young drove a wide delivery to cover to leave New Zealand 77 for 3. Although Lawes still served up the occasional loose delivery - understandable for a 19-year-old in his third professional game - his control has improved markedly even in the short space of time of this series.

On another difficult surface, New Zealand’s openers did the hard work early, but Lawes’ early strike gave West Indies a breakthrough and put pressure back on NZ.

Lennox produced a couple of excellent deliveries to bowl Motie and Joseph - particularly the arm ball that curved past Motie's outside edge - as he turned figures of 1 for 49 after eight overs into 4 for 52 from his 10 with West Indies' last six wickets falling in 51 balls. They will now need to win both matches in Barbados to claim the series.

New Zealand 141 for 4 (Latham 31*, Lawes 3-39) beat West Indies 140 (Carty 48, Lennox 4-52) by six wickets