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USACA put on notice

Cricket’s ongoing power struggles in the United States have resulted in USACA being placed officially on notice for failing to meet the ICC’s membership criteria. Disputes between USACA and the American Cricket Federation mean the former body cannot claim to be the sole organisation representing the game in the USA. This has resulted in a warning that the board could be suspended if the matter is not cleared within the year.
“They are up to be put on notice, however that issue is going to be discussed at the governance committee meeting and by the ICC board on Thursday before the annual conference,” ICC global development head Tim Anderson said. “USACA have been suspended in the past but these criteria weren’t in place then. This is a new process that hasn’t been tested yet. That’s one of the things the governance committee has to talk about.”

Wally Edwards and Giles Clarke turned on the charm at the MCG on Tuesday as they attempted to reassure Associate and Affiliate nations that the “Big Three” will lead cricket with more benevolence than belligerence.Edwards and Clarke spoke on behalf of the boards of Australia and England at an informal meeting ahead of the official Associates & Affiliates gathering in the Jim Stynes Room. Alongside India’s BCCI, they have hatched plans for the game’s strongest nations to lead the rest.The third member of their triumvirate, the barred BCCI president and yet ICC chairman-elect N Srinivasan, was not at the MCG, relying instead on his colleagues to articulate the new landscape they have created together, stressing meritocracy and closer bilateral links between nations.Edwards told members that the path was now open for cricket’s second- and third-tier nations to earn their way up the ladder through success on the field and sound governance off it. Tim Anderson, the ICC’s head of global development, said the management of the governing body in Dubai had grown more at ease with plans for the next eight years after working at turning broad resolutions into more detailed blueprints.”ICC management didn’t have a large role in the proposals when they were first put up four or five months ago, but as we’ve moved through this phase we have been able to get more involved and talk to our full members about what’s important, and as far as I can gather a lot of that’s been taken on board,” Anderson said.”I’ve had conversations with CA, ECB and the BCCI over the past couple of months along with our own development committee, and all of those discussions have been really positive about what the future might look like. I feel pretty good about the future even though there are some changes to come. The fact that our full members seem to be engaging more and more with other countries is a very good thing.”Among the major concerns raised by Associate and Affiliate members are changed financial modelling, which will offer nations a reduced percentage of ICC revenues when lined up against the previous plan, even if the next set of television rights is set to fetch an appreciably larger price and thus an increased injection of cash for all.According to an insider, the ICC is showing a “lack of care for Associate cricket,” underlined by their narrower focus on the tier below Test members. The High Performance Program will, for the next few months, concentrate on the four teams participating in next year’s World Cup – Ireland, Scotland, Afghanistan and the UAE – leaving the rest wondering how they will keep cash flow going and whether their teams will get sufficient game time.They have managed to attain some certainty in terms of the new financial model. Associate and Affiliate members will receive a total amount of US$225 million but it will be divided according to a new model. Half of that money (US$112.5 million) will go to top performing Associates but it is yet to be decided who those teams will be while. The other half will be shared among the rest. There is also the possibility of another tier of Associate countries who will be classed as high-performing countries, who may not benefit from the high performance program but will receive additional financial support.”Change is difficult at any stage, and we go through a process of change every eight years given our new rights and events cycle, different structures and funding models come through,” Anderson said. “I think what’s been good for this group today is Wally Edwards and Giles Clarke came in and spoke to them this morning and talked to them about the background of some of the changes.”Some of them who were involved in our committees have a broader understanding of what’s been happening, but this has really helped get their head around what’s going on and maybe more why it’s happening. I think they understand that the rights for world cricket are going to be sold very well, the international game’s in a good place and we expect our media rights will go for significantly more than they have in the past, which will mean more money will flow down.”I would imagine that coming into this meeting there would have been uncertainty, but now there’s a bit more comfort with what’s going on.”Also a source of disquiet is the plan to reduce the number of competing teams at the World Cup from 14 to 10 from 2019, though two qualification places will still be open. “One of the things they are perhaps understandably worried about is the World Cup and why are we going from 14 teams to 10 teams,” Anderson said. “As a member that’s a fair enough question, and in isolation I can understand where they’re coming from – you don’t want to lose something because you don’t want to lose something.”As a package though if you look at the opportunities coming in T20, opening up Test cricket and a big shift is the fact that up until now Full Members have by right received an automatic spot in the World Cup. At 2019 that won’t happen anymore. If they play well at the next World Cup they can put forward a case to say it should probably be more than 10, and if I were them I’d do the same thing.”Thirdly the game’s smaller nations have wondered aloud about a wider philosophical shift from expansion to consolidation, with Edwards, Clarke and Srinivasan eager to improve the performances of numerous existing Full Members. However Anderson suggested that targeted expansion into cricket’s major untapped markets – namely China and the USA – was now more likely than before.”There might be more of a focus on that moving forward as opposed to having a wide strategy to try to grow everybody, to really target some of those key countries and say ‘We really want to have a go there because we think they’ll make a big impact moving forward’,” he said. “Even though there’s been a lot of talk about China and the USA, there hasn’t necessarily been a huge amount of investment or events haven’t been put in those places.”I’m not sure the action has backed up some of the words, but moving forward I think that’s one of the things that’ll probably happen.”The three Associate and Affiliate positions on the ICC board will be taken up by Imran Khawaja of Singapore, Neil Speight from Bermuda and Francois Erasmus of Namibia. There was no room for Keith Oliver from Scotland which is believed to have caused consternation among the European Associate and Affiliate members who were lobbying for Oliver to get a position on the board. Oliver was instrumental in winning the right for Associate nations to have a pathway to play in international and many Associate members believed he would continue to champion their cause.The day was rounded off by the first installment of the two-day Chief Executives Committee meeting, at which recommendations from the cricket committee’s discussions in Bangalore were to be discussed. The Associate and Affiliate nations also discussed their situation with regard to the Big Three administrative and revamp of the ICC and arrived at the conclusion that “rebellious” postures would not help their cause at a time when “logical” thought was required.

England will attempt to put behind them the shock of losing the Test against India when they begin the one-day series in Scarborough on Thursday, on a day which marks the start of the road to the 2017 Women’s World Cup with the beginning of the Women’s Championship.The Championship, the first structured bilateral tournament in the women’s game, will have officially started a few hours earlier in Brisbane with Australia facing Pakistan. The other four teams involved are South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and West Indies.The introduction of the league comes at a time when the major challenge within the women’s game is to provide a sustainable volume of cricket and also ensure that a damaging divide does not start to emerge along funding lines.England and Australia are significantly ahead of the other nations in terms of financial investment and, although India’s victory at Wormsley showed that does not automatically transfer into on-field results, the women’s game needs to look after those countries where money is more of a challenge.One option put on the table in recent months was the Women’s International Cricket League (WICL), a privately funded and run T20 event proposed to be held in Singapore. The ECB and Cricket Australia, however, quickly doused talk of any private enterprise being allowed to take hold.”From an ICC perspective I suppose the real priority has been getting to the Women’s Championship positioned and rolling that out the best we can,” Clare Connor, the ECB head of women’s cricket, said. “Bilateral cricket has to be our priority and to give it context and meaning ahead of the next World Cup. Once we see that bed in and run smoothly, I’m sure there will be scope to look at a global T20 competition.”I think what will happen is that in the next 12-24 months, England, Australia and India will somehow discuss a way forward to make something like that happen. It would be good to have a tournament like that which could inject more money into the game and bolster the profile in a different way.”The Championship sees each team play each other in one home or away series that will include three ODIs counting towards the Championship over a two-and-a-half year period. As such, each side is guaranteed at least 21 ODIs over the tournament period.At the conclusion of the seven rounds, the top four sides will gain automatic qualification for the 2017 Women’s World Cup in England, while the bottom four sides will get a final chance of qualification through the Qualifier event.

ScorecardBJ Watling and Grant Elliott both struck hundreds in Ayr•Donald MacLeod/Cricket Scotland

Hundreds from Grant Elliott and BJ Watling powered New Zealand A to a comprehensive victory in Ayr, as Scotland, without a number of their top-order batsmen, succumbed in the first of three matches.Scotland had started well with the ball but lost the plot at the back end of the innings, conceding nearly 150 runs in the last ten overs as Watling and Elliott piled on the misery. In reply the home side never threatened, with only Richie Berrington and David Murphy displaying any fluency with the bat.Without eight regulars due to injury and county commitments, including captain Kyle Coetzer, Scotland were forced to field a weakened side, handing a debut to 21-year-old Gordon Munsey; by contrast, the New Zealand A side featured six players with Test match experience.Having won his first toss as Scotland captain, Matt Machan would have been delighted with the way his bowlers started, removing both openers inside the first ten, including in-form Hamish RutherfordAfter the seamers’ hard work, it was the introduction of spin from the Cottage End that broke the third-wicket partnership, when Dean Brownlie chopped the third ball of Majid Haq’s first over on to his leg stump; seam struck an over later when Evans trapped Daryl Mitchell lbw to leave New Zealand A 92 for 4.However, as the sun and stiff breeze dried the pitch, batting got easier and easier. Both Machan and Michael Leask were deposited over the boundary by Colin de Grandhomme, and had he not missed a straight one off Haq the No. 6 might have caused some real damage. But for Scotland, the worst was yet to come.Once Elliott reached an obdurate fifty, he accelerated alongside Watling, who batted with total ease. Their partnership was eventually worth 185 from 19 overs. Elliott scored his second half-century off 26 balls, while Watling’s second came off just 13, as they battered Safyaan Sharif’s final three overs for 57 runs. Still 20 short of his hundred, Watling mistimed the ball over mid-off but Machan, running back, never quite settled under it; the drop seemed inevitable, as did defeat even at that point.If Scotland’s bowling was ultimately sub-par, their batting was dire. From the moment Hamish Gardiner became the first of Matt Henry’s four victims, Scotland never looked like threatening the target of 348. There were bright patches for Grant Bradburn, Scotland’s coach, to focus on: Munsey looked at ease with the pace and bite of the attack until he played a loose drive and Berrington once again showed form with the bat, although by the time he got into his groove the game was well done. In truth, it had the feel of a square practice for both sides after Henry and Scott Kuggeleijn blew away the top order.”The first 35 overs, we bowled well, we fielded well, and then we let it get away from us,” Bradburn said. “We’ve got a lot of high-level cricket between now and the World Cup, and we have to try and improve those skills, and try and be comfortable chasing. At the moment, we’re more comfortable setting than chasing, and we have to be able to do both. We have the skills to go out and chase big scores, but what we need is the belief.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details2:03

Sangakkara ton downs England

Sangakkara fined for code of conduct breach

Kumar Sangakkara has been fined 15% of his match fee for breaching Article 2.1.3 of the ICC code of conduct, which relates to “showing dissent at an umpire’s decision”.
The incident occured during the 34th over of Sri Lanka’s innings, when Sangakkara got involved in a prolonged discussion with on-field umpire Bruce Oxenford, disputing his decision to not allow Sri Lanka to take the batting Powerplay at that time. Two balls later, following the dismissal of Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sangakkara turned to Oxenford and made another inappropriate comment.
After the conclusion of the match, Sangakkara admitted the to offence and accepted the sanction proposed by match referee David Boon.

A masterful century from Kumar Sangakkara helped Sri Lanka wrap up the ODI series against England with a thumping 90-run victory in Pallekele.Sangakkara, who had made half-centuries in the four previous matches, compiled the 20th century of an exceptional career as Sri Lanka reached 292 in their 50 overs. On a slightly two-paced pitch offering assistance to bowlers of all varieties and at a ground where no side had ever chased more than 240 to win an ODI, it was an overwhelming contribution.If, as expected, Sangakkara retires from ODI cricket after the World Cup, this will have been his last limited-overs innings in international cricket on what might loosely be termed his home ground. If so, he left his supporters – and there are many – with vivid memories of a great player combining experience and prodigious natural ability for the benefit of his team.The result means that, with one match to play in the series, Sri Lanka have an unassailable 4-2 lead. It also means that England have lost six of their last seven ODI series and nine of their last 12 ODIs. They have also been bowled out in eight of their last 11 ODI innings. Here they left eight-and-a-half overs unused.Alastair Cook has endured several wretched days over the course of this year, but few can have been worse than this. Not only did he fail again with the bat – missing a straight ball that did not turn – but he dropped a simple and hugely costly chance in the field and saw England miss their overrate target yet again.The dropped chance may well have been the turning point in the game. Sangakkara was on 41 at the time and, attempting to drive a Ravi Bopara delivery over the top, gifted a simple chance to mid-off. But Cook, with his mind scrambled and his focus elsewhere, was unable to cling on to a straightforward chance. Sangakkara punished the miss ferociously.Cook has now scored one half-century in his last 21 ODI innings. It is 30 months and 45 innings since he reached 80 in an ODI. And to make his embarrassment all the more acute, the only ODI series England have won this year came in the Caribbean when Cook (and other 50-over players) were rested to provide opportunities for the shorter-format specialists ahead of the World T20. The last time England won an ODI series under Cook was in New Zealand at the start of 2013, meaning they have won one of the last nine ODI series under his captaincy.That an England camp bursting with analysts and statisticians have ignored such figures is puzzling.Increasingly, though, Cook’s ODI captaincy appears untenable. The reprieve of Sangakkara might prove to be the final straw. Cook has, of late, seemed to drop everything but himself.The day had started well for England. Steven Finn and Chris Woakes delivered probing opening spells and conceded only 27 off the 10-over Powerplay. Mahela Jayawardene, promoted to open in place of the dropped Kusal Perera, was beaten by a hint of swing and hit a leading edge to mid-off.But Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan added 153 in 30.3 overs for the second wicket. Initially cautious, they accumulated without risk and then accelerated with a class that took they match beyond England.Having lost their way against England’s spinners in the previous match, they were notably more proactive in this game. Dilshan utilised the switch hit to score off the impressively tight James Tredwell, while Sangakkara disrupted Moeen’s lengths with his swift footwork and ability to rock on to the back foot and out away the short ball.Sangakkara took 22 balls over his first 11 runs and 71 to reach his 50. But his next 50 took only 34 balls and, as he pulled and drove Chris Jordan for sixes, or skipped down the pitch to hit Mooen Ali over mid-on, England’s cricket became ever more ragged.Jos Buttler missed two chances – one a desperately tough stumping, the other an error of judgement when he called for a catch that would have gone almost straight to James Taylor – while England’s bowlers donated another eight runs in wides. Their tally in the six match series to date is 64.Though Sangakkara fell with five-and-a-half overs to go, the platform he had built allowed Sri Lanka’s lower-order to attack with freedom. With England’s seamers persisting on pitching short, Sri Lanka’s batsmen plundered 67 from the final seven overs.England never threatened in reply. Though Moeen caressed two sixes and a four in one Dilshan over and Joe Root sustained his form with a half-century, they lost three wickets in the first Powerplay and six before the halfway stage. Taylor played for non-existent spin – Sachithra Senanayake’s new action has left him tidy but lacking bite – Bopara edged a wide one and Buttler, sent back by Root, was run-out by a brilliant pick up and throw from Lahiru Thirimanne.Suranga Lakmal, brought in for the dropped Dhammika Prasad, bowled with impressive hostility to claim career-best ODI figures. Eoin Morgan was unfortunate to receive a brute of a lifter first delivery and could only glove it to the keeper, Root missed an attempted scoop and Chris Jordan edged one that nipped away.While Woakes produced a fluent innings, the damage was long since done. It was Sangakkara’s day, for sure, but it might be Cook who looks back on it as a defining moment in his career.

In the end it was as simple as this. The West Indies selectors decided their team were a greater chance of beating Australia without Shiv Chanderpaul than with him.That realisation arrived in discussions following the drawn series against England, but also as a result of broader examinations of Chanderpaul’s record, which had recently begun to trend drastically down from his illustrious record.For Clive Lloyd, a fellow Guyanese, the decision to jettison a player as respected as Chanderpaul was a difficult one, but ultimately a matter of cricketing logic. In the loose collective of islands that make up the Caribbean it was bound to have created plenty of debate in circles both sporting and political, but Lloyd and the coach Phil Simmons were able to present a united and uncompromising front when explaining their choice of players to face Australia.”Over a period of time we’ve noticed a decline in form … over the last 11 innings he’s averaging 16, so we thought the time has come to look towards younger players,” Lloyd said in Barbados.”I don’t think there’s any bitterness. I think he realised that at 40 years old he’s not going to be in the same shape he was at 20. We just thought that here it is, we must make a decision. We have a lot of good young cricketers and we think it’s time we inject the youth into our cricket.”Simmons said that while they had considered the possibility of allowing Chanderpaul one final curtain call against Australia, it would not have been for reasons of sentiment. Once the selectors decided to move on, there was no thought of a farewell tour.”He’s had a long and illustrious career, and we know he’s done a lot for West Indies cricket, but at the same time we sit down to select a team against Australia,” Simmons said. “When you go through that process he didn’t fit in.”It’s not about giving someone two Tests to finish their career, it’s about picking the right team to play the next game.”There are plans in the works for an appropriate acknowledgement of Chanderpaul’s career, a journey so long that it commenced in 1994, when Simmons was still part of the Test team and West Indies were still proudly in possession of an unbeaten streak that had begun in 1980. While Chanderpaul did not play in the 1995 series that saw Australia finally end that run, he was for most of the intervening years the most stubborn defender of a team in decline.”I don’t think there’s anybody here who can have admired Shivnarine Chanderpaul more than I have,” Lloyd said. “You’re in awe of the man, he’s given yeoman service. But there comes a time.”It will be some time before Chanderpaul comes to terms with the decision. The aforementioned stubbornness was evident in his refusal to concede that his career was on the wane, leaving Lloyd and Simmons with the difficult task of talking him through their judgment.”He still thinks he’s good enough to compete,” Lloyd said. “We had a discussion, but the point is that we made up our mind about what we wanted to do.”We do have a lot of exciting young cricketers and it is an exciting time for our cricket. We are hoping that these guys come through, and show their mettle.”The training squad of 12 assembled in Barbados will be swelled to 14 following the conclusion of the tour match between the Australians and a WICB President’s XI in Antigua, in which numerous young hopefuls will attempt to prove themselves worthy of a Test berth.It also appears likely that Chanderpaul will be joined in his newfound state of spectatorship for this Test series by the West Indies’ IPL collective, as Lloyd and Simmons made it clear the Test team would be composed entirely of those players either training in Barbados or playing the Australians in Antigua.

Sri Lanka remain hopeful that Suranga Lakmal will be fit for the second Test against England at Headingley, despite a hamstring injury keeping him out of the current squad.Lakmal suffered the problem during the one-off T20 at the start of the tour but his rehabilitation is understood to be going well back in Sri Lanka and he will undergo a fitness test while the first Test, at Lord’s, is ongoing. He could then rejoin the squad for the second Test, which starts four days later.The make-up of Sri Lanka’s seam attack could be key to their chances of upsetting England in the Tests and claiming an unexpected sweep of all three series. Lakmal has emerged alongside Shaminda Eranga as one of Sri Lanka’s preferred new-ball bowlers, under the tutelage of Chaminda Vaas, and his absence leaves some uncertainty around the line-up for Lord’s.Eranga has recently been left out of limited-overs competition to preserve him for Tests but he has not played a competitive match since February. He has been Sri Lanka’s most successful Test pace bowler since his debut in 2011, with 38 wickets, putting him ahead of the left-armer Chanaka Welegedara and Lakmal.Welegedara’s last Test was in 2012, while Nuwan Kulasekara is only a fitful performer in the longer format, despite his importance to Sri Lanka’s white-ball cricket. Nuwan Pradeep, perhaps the liveliest of the seamers on show in Northampton, where the third day was washed out by a heavy morning downpour, is also in contention, despite a modest Test record of eight wickets at 89.25.Prasanna Jayawardene, Sri Lanka’s Test wicketkeeper, said of Lakmal, “If he’s fit, he’ll definitely come in”. Jayawardene had a good view of Welegedara, Pradeep and Dhammika Prasad, the other seamer in the tour party, from behind the stumps at Wantage Road and suggested the competition for places was a good sign for Sri Lanka, as they attempt to add to Test wins on English grounds in 1998 and 2006.”Lakmal is a huge loss but everyone saw yesterday that our pace bowlers did brilliantly on this track,” Jayawardene said. “We have a good pace attack so we can do much better on this tour.”Jayawardene indicated that Sri Lanka want the opportunity to bat again on Sunday, when the forecast is more promising and play will begin half an hour early. The batting line-up has not inconsiderable experience of conditions in England and Jayawardene’s only Test century outside the subcontinent came in Cardiff in 2011 – a bittersweet experience, as Sri Lanka collapsed for 82 on the final day to lose by an innings.Having won the T20 and ODI encounters – the latter amid some rancour – Sri Lanka can claim a psychological edge going into the Tests. With England in transition and expected to field three debutants for the second match running, this series represents a tantalising opportunity for a rare success away from home.”We all want to do that, I think we have a good chance this time, because we had a good one-day series and morale is high,” Jayawardene said. “All the boys did well – fielding, batting, bowling. So we are going for the Test series, 100 percent.”It’s not easy coming from the subcontinent, we have to adapt to the conditions very early, adjust our technique when batting and bowling in these conditions. After the one-day series loss, they are coming hard, we’re expecting that.”

ScorecardFile photo: Tamim Iqbal made 91 off 86•AFP

Bangladesh started their West Indies tour on a positive note with a 95-run victory over Grenada in the only practice game before the ODI series.Choosing to bat, Bangladeshis posted 322 for 6. Tamim Iqbal led the way, making an 86-ball 91 that included 12 fours and two sixes. Tamim was involved in two substantial stands – a 56-run partnership with Anamul Haque at the start, followed by a brisk 88 for the third wicket with Shamsur Rahman.There were useful contributions from most of the batsmen, except Imrul Kayes who fell for 1. The pair of Mahmudullah and Nasir Hossain gave the side a strong finish with a 101-run stand that came in just 50 balls.Grenada’s steep chase hit a hurdle early on when Sohag Gazi dismissed Devon Smith in the second over. Keone George tried to anchor the chase with an 89-ball 62, but his dismissal set off a slide that saw Grenada lose five wickets for nine runs and stumble to 186 for 9. The last-wicket pair of Denis George and Preston McSween added 41 to help the side reach 227 for 9. Mashrafe Mortaza picked up the most wickets for Bangladeshis with 3 for 44, while Abdur Razzak and Al-Amin Hossain picked up two wickets apiece.

India medium-pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar is a soft-spoken and shy person but he could not hide his excitement after receiving the Polly Umrigar Trophy for the Cricketer of the Year award at the annual BCCI awards function in Mumbai on Friday.”This reminds me that when Virender Sehwag was awarded the Cricketer of the Year trophy in 2007-08 and I was the Under-19 cricketer of the year, I walked up to him and asked him if I could see from close how the big Cricketer of the Year trophy is,” Bhuvneshwar told the audience. “It feels really special to hold this trophy today.”Over the last two years, Bhuvneshwar has established himself as a key member of the Indian team in all three formats. While he cemented his place in the side with accurate swing bowling, his batting flourished during India’s tour to England earlier this year. Bhuvneshwar finished with 263 runs and 22 wickets in seven Tests, 17 wickets from 22 ODIs, and seven wickets from as many T20 internationals during the period considered for the award.”I would like to thank all my team-mates today,” Bhuvneshwar said. “Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to hold this trophy.”While all of Bhuvneshwar’s team-mates applauded his achievement, the gathering stood in unison when former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar was presented the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award by his former team-mate and BCCI interim president Shivlal Yadav.”I was going through the list of the previous award winners and it’s an immensely honourable feeling to have joined such a special league. I thank the BCCI for honouring me with this prestigious award,” Vengsarkar said. Two of the previous 21 recipients – Chandu Borde and Ajit Wadekar – also gave Vengsarkar a standing ovation.While several top BCCI officials attended the function, N Srinivasan and Sundar Raman skipped the event. The ICC chairman and the IPL chief operating officer have been under investigation by the Supreme Court for their alleged involvement in the 2013 IPL corruption scandal.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

A double-century in a one-day international is not quite passé, but has become more common than ever seemed possible. A double-century in a World Cup quarter-final? is something truly special. Martin Guptill’s unbeaten 237 was the highest World Cup score of all time and the second-highest in all ODIs, but most importantly it ensured New Zealand’s progression to the World Cup semi-finals for the seventh time.Nobody in the partisan crowd in Wellington will ever forget Guptill’s innings. Nor will Marlon Samuels, who in the first over of the match grassed Guptill at square leg. It is hard to imagine a costlier one-day drop, for Guptill went on to score 60% of New Zealand’s 393 for 6. To add to the hurt, Samuels later fell to the most brilliant of catches, when a backpedalling Daniel Vettori at third man leapt and pinched a one-hander above his head that would have gone for six.It was that sort of day for New Zealand. Buoyed by the home support, they did just about everything right. West Indies kept up with the run-rate, just not the preservation rate required. They limped past Guptill’s individual tally at nine wickets down, and were bowled out for 250 in the 31st over. Trent Boult had done the damage by claiming four wickets in his opening spell.Chris Gayle pummelled 61 off 33 balls and provided some evening entertainment. Stiff with a bad back, Gayle dealt almost exclusively in boundaries. He struck eight sixes and two fours, and his innings was the most one-sided thing in a one-sided game: only one of his runs came through off. But he was bowled by Adam Milne for what was but a cameo compared to Guptill.Guptill had faced the first ball of New Zealand’s innings and the last. He played proper cricket shots, premeditating little but punishing the West Indies bowlers when they offered up half-volleys. He saw off 65 dot balls, respecting the good ones and making the most of the others. He brought up his 200 with a powerful crunch down the ground for four off Andre Russell from his 152nd delivery.It was fitting, for throughout his innings Guptill’s straight driving was so impressive you’d think he’d just had a wheel alignment. Guptill basked in the standing ovation, knowing that this was a once-in-a-lifetime moment. When he had moved past 171, he had the highest World Cup score by a New Zealander, beating Glenn Turner’s effort in their very first World Cup match back in 1975.Guptill’s 163-ball innings featured 24 fours and 11 sixes, and he alone scored 92 of New Zealand’s 153 in the final ten overs. In the 50th over he even launched a six onto the roof. New Zealand knew they had the ingredients for a show-stopping product: a huge home crowd, a good pitch, a toss won, a shaky opposition attack. But Guptill cooked up something that spilled out of the Cake Tin entirely.He scored freely throughout his innings but not surprisingly the flow of runs became an inexorable current during the late stages. His first half-century came off 64 balls and his hundred from 111. Do the maths and you’ll realise that means his second hundred came from 41 deliveries. Wherever West Indies pitched it in the final ten over, Guptill had a six waiting for them.This was a man at the peak of his powers: his 105 against Bangladesh in the previous game was just a warm-up. And though he scored 195 more than his nearest team-mate, he had plenty of support. The most prolific partnership was his 143-run stand with Ross Taylor for the third wicket; Taylor scored only 42 of those runs as he nudged the ball around for ones and twos.In fact, the run out of Taylor arguably came at the perfect time for New Zealand, as it allowed Corey Anderson and then Grant Elliott to come in and find the boundary. Elliott’s 27 off 11 balls was a fine cameo and his half-century partnership with Guptill came from only 15 legal balls. Jerome Taylor got rid of Elliott and Luke Ronchi at the end, but Elliott and Ronchi were not the problem.The West Indian effort in the field was listless. Samuels’ dropped chance was the stand-out, but the first ball of the game was ominous: Jason Holder and Sulieman Benn both lethargically pursued Guptill’s straight drive. They could have saved the boundary, but didn’t. West Indies became more disheartened as the innings wore on, and more mistakes were made.Really, they’d have needed to do everything right after losing the toss. The first wicket was encouraging, as Holder lived up to his name by running away with the flight from mid-off and clinging on to a super catch to get rid of Brendon McCullum for 12. New Zealand were 27 for 1, but from there not much went West Indies’ way.Guptill and Kane Williamson put on 62 for the second wicket before Williamson drove Russell’s slower ball to a juggling Gayle at cover for 33. But as long as Guptill was there West Indies – and a whole bunch of ODI and World Cup records – were anything but safe.The result means New Zealand will host South Africa at Eden Park on Tuesday, a meeting that guarantees a first-time finalist at this World Cup. New Zealand have reached semi-finals at six previous World Cups but have yet to emerge from one victorious. In form and at home, they may never have a better chance.