Phillips leads Black Caps to victory in T20I opener

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Nelson, December 29: Glenn Phillips was named man-of-the-match after guiding New Zealand to a 47-run win over West Indies in the opening Twenty20 international.

Phillips celebrated a fifty and Colin Munro also scored a half-century as the Black Caps heaped further misery on the touring Windies, who were bowled out for 140 in Nelson on Friday.

Young gun Phillips racked up 55, while Munro hit 53 to lead New Zealand to 187-7 from their 20-over allotment against the reigning T20 world champions.

The Windies' bowling attack leaked runs, with Jerome Taylor (2-41), Carlos Brathwaite (2-38), Kesrick Williams (1-52), Ashley Nurse (1-31) and Samuel Badree (1-22) proving expensive after the visitors won the toss and opted to field first.

Phillips then starred in the field, involved in four dismissals as New Zealand – without rested captain Kane Williamson and Trent Boult – made it six successive wins over the Windies across all formats following Test and one-day international success.

The 21-year-old helped send dangerous opener Chris Gayle (12), Andre Fletcher (27), Rovman Powell (6) and Williams (3) back to the pavilion as Seth Rance (3-30) and Tim Southee (3-36) finished with three-wicket hauls.

Doug Bracewell (2-10), Mitchell Santner (1-21) and Ish Sodhi (1-30) were also in the thick of the action – the Windies all out in the 19th over.

Source: OPTA