Santner leads New Zealand to series victory over West Indies in tense ODI, teams pay tribute to Sir Garry Sobers

While much of the sporting world was focused on the FIFA World Cup final in New Jersey, New Zealand and West Indies played out a tense one-day international at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, where both teams paid tribute to Sir Garry Sobers. New Zealand held their nerve to beat West Indies by one wicket in a low-scoring contest, taking an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match ODI series. Captain Mitchell Santner led the chase with an unbeaten 34, guiding the lower order through the closing stages after New Zealand looked in danger of falling short. No. 11 Jayden Lennox also played an important role, surviving 10 deliveries in an unbeaten stand of nine runs with Santner to help the visitors cross the line. Lennox had been named Player of the Match in each of the previous two games for his bowling performances.

Earlier, Mark Chapman top-scored for New Zealand with 80 after West Indies were bowled out for 188 on a two-paced surface. With three runs needed and one wicket remaining, Santner was dropped before Lennox survived reviews for both a caught-behind and an lbw appeal. New Zealand eventually reached the target with 35 balls to spare. “It was pretty chaotic, especially the ending,” Santner said. “You try to chip off the total as much as you can. Even partnerships of 10 or 15 at that stage was going a long way. “It probably shouldn't have got that close but it was nice to get over the line.”

The match was played two days after the death of Sir Garry Sobers, who died on Friday at the age of 89. Playing in Sobers' hometown of Bridgetown and at Kensington Oval, where he built his career, West Indies had hoped to honour one of the country's greatest cricketers with a victory. Both teams wore black armbands, flags flew at half-mast, two seats in the Sir Garry Sobers Pavilion were left empty, and a minute's silence was observed before the start of play. Sobers is widely regarded as the greatest West Indies cricketer and one of the finest all-rounders in the history of the game, scoring more than 8,000 Test runs and taking over 200 wickets.

West Indies' hopes of a fitting tribute suffered an early setback when New Zealand won the toss and chose to bowl. Teams batting second have now won all four matches in the series. The home side slipped to 58 for 3 and then 81 for 6 before Amir Jangoo and Gudakesh Motie added 81 runs for the seventh wicket to revive the innings. Jangoo scored 51 from 71 balls, while Motie contributed 41 to take West Indies to 188. Young fast bowler Matthew Fisher claimed 3 for 40, his first ODI wickets for New Zealand.