Twitter Reactions: Carlos Brathwaite’s madness falls short of taking Windies home in Manchester

Prior to their match versus New Zealand at Old Trafford in Manchester, the Windies was in dire need of a victory in the 2019 World Cup. At one point, the Jason Holder-led unit was staring down the barrel of their fourth over. However, Carlos Brathwaite almost single-handedly shouldered the Windies home. In the end, the Black Caps managed to win the encounter by a slender margin of five runs.

Captain Kane shows his class

Windies’ decision to field first worked wonders for them as Sheldon Cottrell pinned Martin Guptill in front for a golden duck. Colin Munro had no idea about an in-swinging Yorker from Cottrell and he too perished for naught. However, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor didn’t allow the pressure to build and put on 160 for the third wicket. After his failure against South Africa, Taylor churned out a half-century.

He went on to score a patient 69 off 95 with seven fours. Tom Latham succumbed to yet another failure. Meanwhile, Williamson raced way to consecutive tons off 124 deliveries. The Kiwi skipper played until the 47th over and got out to Cottrell after scoring 148 off 154 with 14 fours and an over-boundary. The Kiwis eventually got 291 in 50 overs. Cottrell was the most successful of the bowlers with four wickets.

Carlos wrecks havoc

The Caribbean team got off to a horrendous start as Trent Boult picked up both Shai Hope and Nicholas Pooran in his first spell. Thereafter, Chris Gayle and Shimron Hetmyer took the bowling by the scruff of its neck and stitched together a partnership of 122 runs off 95 balls. Just when things looked good for the Windies, Hetmyer played a horrendous shot off Lockie Ferguson and got out for 54 off 45 deliveries.

In the very next ball, Lockie sent back Jason Holder for a golden duck. Gayle got 87 off 84 but threw his wicket away to Colin de Grandhomme. A hobbling Evin Lewis was bounced out by Boult and then Ashley Nurse perished. The onus was then on Carlos Brathwaite and Kemar Roach to steady the ship. After a 47-run stand, Matt Henry got the better of Roach, who fought hard for his 14 runs off 31 balls.

Brathwaite put together a well-compiled fifty off 52 deliveries. Cottrell gets 15 and he became Ferguson’s third victim. Brathwaite waited for Ferguson and Boult’s spell to finish and then laid into Matt Henry in the 48th over and hammered 25 runs off it. Brathwaite stormed to his ton off 80 deliveries. To his utter disappointment, he got out on the last ball of the 49th over, caught by Boult at long on.

Here is how Twitter reacted to the absolute thriller