Rutherford blitz sees Windies topple New Zealand

Sherfane Rutherford scored an unbeaten 68 from 39 deliveries to help the West Indies in their great escape as the T20 World Cup co-hosts beat New Zealand by 13 runs in Trinidad.

The West Indies, a favourite for the tournament title, made 9-149 from their 20 overs, but had slumped to 7-76 before Rutherford led  the recovery.

Alzarri Joseph snared four New Zealand wickets and Gudakesh Motie took three — including New Zealand captain Kane Williamson for 1 — to restrict the Black Caps to 9-136 in reply.

Left-hander Rutherford turned the home team’s fortunes around, going to the crease with the West Indies reeling at 4-22 after 5.4 overs. Rutherford scored 18 off the last over that culminated with a six and a boundary.

The loss left New Zealand with a strong possibility they will not make the second round. If Afghanistan beats Papua New Guinea on Thursday, three-time runner-up New Zealand will be out of contention.

If that comes to pass, the ICC's decision to allocate seedings ahead of the tournament means Afghanistan would take the C1 spot in Group 2 of the Super Eights, setting up a match with Australia in St Vincent on June 23 (10.30am AEST). 

For most of the first half of the game, the Black Caps were on top.

But Rutherford went on the attack as the West Indies added 2-58 in the last five overs of their innings.

He was 15 off 14 deliveries when star allrounder Andre Russell was out for 14 in the 13th over, and he accelerated with the lower-order in a counter-attacking, 72-minute innings containing six sixes and two boundaries.

"It's a good feeling, to help my team. That is what we live for and work hard for," player-of-the-match Rutherford said during the innings break. "It was a very tough surface to start on. I think 149 is a brilliant score on this wicket."

After the match, Rutherford had a more optimistic tone: "It is only the start of something big to come and hopefully we can keep winning and momentum going."

New Zealand started well after winning the toss and fielding, with Trent Boult (3-16) bowling opener Johnson Charles to end the first over.

Tim Southee (2-21), recalled after missing New Zealand's opening loss to Afghanistan, dismissed dangerman Nicholas Pooran for 12 in the fourth over, trigging a run of three wickets for three runs.

Lockie Ferguson deceived Roston Chase with a slower ball to make it 3-21 and skipper Rovman Powell (1) was caught behind off Southee five balls later.

Russell went on the attack but his dismissal — caught in the deep of Boult's bowling — appeared to be an insurmountable setback until Rutherford took up the challenge.

"The quality of Sherfane's innings was high," New Zealand skipper Williamson said. "The batting depth in their side was beneficial for sure. We cannot make excuses and have to find ways."

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