Skipper Kane Williamson rescued New Zealand with a career-best 148, his second consecutive century, steering his side to a competitive 291 for eight against West Indies after first-over setbacks in a World Cup match, at Manchester on Saturday.
Williamson, who anchored his side's chase with an unbeaten 106 against South Africa in their previous match, yet again excelled under pressure as New Zealand were off to a disastrous start.
Negating a sluggish track and some testing initial fast bowling spells from the West Indies pacers, Williamson batted with aplomb and in the process raised his 13th ODI hundred which came off 154 balls with the help of 14 fours and a six.
Asked to bat, New Zealand were in for a shock when left-arm pacer Sheldon Cottrell (4/56) sent back both the openers—Martin Guptill (0) and Colin Munro (0)—in the first over of the match.
Cottrell's swinging yorkers consumed both the batsmen, who were out for golden ducks.
Their joy, however, did not last long as Williamson and Ross Taylor (69 off 95 balls) dug their heels to raise a 160-run partnership, which steadied the Kiwi ship.
Playing with extreme caution, Williamson and Taylor—the two seasoned Kiwi campaigners—built the innings bit by bit.
Mostly playing in the 'V' region, the first signs of aggression came when Williamson cut Oshane Thomas for a four.
Their fifty came in the 15th over with Taylor smashing a short one from Jason Holder. He later straight drove Thomas for a delicate boundary.
Pacing the innings nicely, both the batsmen completed half-centuries in the 24th over, bowled by Kemar Roach.
Chris Gayle's part-time off spin broke the partnership which was threatening to take the match away from the West Indies.
Taylor looked for some quick runs to accelerate but could not middle one after stepping out. The ball landed in hands of Holder, stationed at mid-off.
Williamson raised his hundred with a boundary off Roach.
Cottrell was brought back into the attack and he first got rid of Tom Latham (12) and then ended the sublime knock of Williamson.
James Neesham (28) and Colin de Grandhomme (16) added some quick runs towards the end.
