Mitchell’s standout century puts New Zealand 1-0 up

New Zealand 269 for 7 (Mitchell 119, Conway 49, Seales 3-41, Forde 2-55) beat West Indies 262 for 6 (Rutherford 55, Jamieson 3-52) by seven runs

Everyone climbed aboard the struggle bus in Christchurch — even Daryl Mitchell, whose seventh ODI century cost him a little of his good health. A groin injury kept him in the dressing room for the whole of the West Indies chase, which wasn’t the worst outcome: he could put his feet up and watch New Zealand pull off a seven-run victory.

A two-paced pitch offering sideways movement throughout the day made batting a thoroughly unpleasant exercise. Mitchell seemed immune at first, but he soon found himself battling not just a disciplined West Indies attack but also his own body as it began to give way under the strain. That he was able to push through all of it — and take New Zealand to 269 — made the innings all the more remarkable.

Mitchell must have felt it too. As soon as he reached his hundred, he ripped off his helmet and roared “yes” with such force that the veins on his shaved head stood out. Performances like this were once the preserve of Kane Williamson or Ross Taylor, two all-time Black Caps greats. Increasingly, however, Mitchell is placing himself in their company. This 119 off 118 balls was a prime example: no one else managed even half his runs, with Sherfane Rutherford’s 55 off 61 the next best score. Conditions at Hagley Oval on Sunday were not for the faint-hearted.

The West Indies struggled in their chase, with the help already present in the daylight now magnified under the lights. Keacy Carty spent most of his 67 balls acting as a crash-test dummy. He would have coped had it been just swing, or just seam, or just bounce — but all three combined at the command of New Zealand’s quicks, and all the West Indies No. 3 could do was brace for impact. The first 10 overs produced only 32 runs. The next nine brought 27. At one point, 30 deliveries yielded just seven scoring shots — and this was while the change bowlers, Jacob Duffy and Zak Foulkes, were operating.

Shai Hope (37 off 45) and Rutherford fared a little better, and New Zealand spilled a series of late catches, but the West Indies had already fallen too far behind to catch up.

They entered the match with five changes — three spinners out, three seamers in. The best of them was Matthew Forde, who found himself on a hat-trick in the seventh over after removing Rachin Ravindra for 4 and Will Young, playing his 50th ODI, for a golden duck.

That was when Mitchell walked in and immediately flipped the match on its head. Up to that point, New Zealand’s batters had been trapped in the crease, giving Forde freedom to do as he pleased. Mitchell, however, strode towards the fast bowler, trusting his reflexes to handle the pace — which averaged only 122 kph — and neutralising Forde’s biggest weapon: sideways movement, particularly into the right-hander. The West Indies tried countering by bringing the wicketkeeper up to the stumps, but that merely slowed Mitchell rather than dislodging him.

Mitchell was 33 off 37 when he shifted gears, needing only 24 more balls to reach fifty. New Zealand were 91 for 2 in the 18th over. Only two of the next 16 overs went for even a run a ball. Five were nearly maidens. The West Indies were extraordinarily tight, especially Roston Chase, who used the cross-wind to make himself appear unhittable (just one four in his 10 overs) and compensate for the loss of Romario Shepherd (4-0-23-0) to a hamstring injury.

It was something of a miracle that the off-spinner finished with only one wicket — that of Michael Bracewell — given the number of chances he created, including three against Bracewell alone. “Jeeeesus,” Chase muttered when Hope missed a straightforward stumping.

New Zealand were 192 for 5 in the 42nd over, but a bigger concern was Mitchell pulling up while running a single, needing treatment to his left leg. He was 78 off 92, just beginning to accelerate. Disabled between the wickets, he was forced to stand and deliver — fortunate, then, that he is more than six feet of pure muscle. He launched a series of trademark straight hits as he thundered to his seventh ODI century, an innings that moved through several distinct phases.

There was the early acceleration, highlighted by a mutant pull shot involving raising the cross-bat high before whipping the wrists at impact to generate pace and find the boundary in front of square. Then came the slowdown (from 33 off 37 to 56 off 77) as he realised he needed to anchor the innings. Then the injury (78 off 92), complicating everything. And finally the will — and power — to finish strongly (41 off 26).

The West Indies could have removed him on 19 and 67, but Chase at point and Jayden Seales at long-on put down two difficult chances. New Zealand also benefited from Devon Conway’s determination at the top of the innings, where he scratched his way to 49 off 58 despite looking far from fluent.

Having specialist fast bowlers helped enormously as well. Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson and Duffy all delivered standout spells (a combined 29-4-146-4). They had both the pace and confidence to bowl short, extracting extra bounce — a clear point of difference. The West Indies had none of that, perhaps a consequence of relying on allrounders for most of their seam overs. Justin Greaves, Shamar Springer and Shepherd stuck to the basics and were tidy (21-0-136-1), but on a pitch that was often unplayable, tidy did not cut it. (ESPNcricinfo)