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Auckland: Chris Gayle's whirlwind display of hitting helped West Indies pull off a thrilling 15-run win in the first ever Super Over contest in an international Twenty20. When West Indies tied the scores at 155 off the last ball of their innings, the crowd at Eden Park was witness to the latest rule in cricket and, batting first in the one mandatory Super Over, Gayle thumped Daniel Vettori for 25 runs to put pressure on the three New Zealand batsmen to come.
Jacob Oram hit the first ball of Sulieman Benn's over for six, scampered for two on the second but was caught in the deep off the next delivery. Ross Taylor then hit a no ball for six to take New Zealand to 15/1 with three balls remaining, but was bowled on the next ball to give West Indies the victory.
Earlier, West Indies wasted a swashbuckling 67 off 41 balls from Gayle by losing four wickets for 21 runs off 19 balls towards the end of their innings. Gayle smashed five sixes and five boundaries in his innings and the visitors were coasting to victory at 109/2 in the 14th over before they suffered a spectacular collapse after some crafty bowling by Vettori.
The New Zealand captain took three for 16 off four overs, while off-spinner Jeetan Patel finished with figures of 2-34, including the wicket of Gayle. Marshall added 28 for the visitors, though the late collapse meant they needed eight off the final over to win the match.
Benn edged a four off the penultimate ball then scrambled for a single off the last ball of the match by Tim Southee to tie the scores. Taylor smashed four boundaries and four sixes to anchor New Zealand's innings with 63 and shared in productive partnerships with Scott Styris, Oram and Daniel Flynn.
Benn varied his pace and flight brilliantly to concede just 20 runs off his four overs, while Gayle captured 2-16 with his part-time off spinners. The second and final match of the Twenty20 series is in Hamilton on Sunday.
Brief Score: West Indies 155 for 8 (Gayle 67) beat New Zealand 155 for 7 (Taylor 63) by 15 runs (per super over ruling)
