Hetmyer, Rutherford steer West Indies in close chase

Shimron Hetmyer held his nerves and powered West Indies to a consolatory victory over New Zealand in the fifth and final ODI of the series with an unbeaten 69 off 64. He and Sherfane Rutherford (61 off 58) added 95 off 90 for the fifth wicket to set the chase up after New Zealand posted 268/9 and rattled West Indies' top-order.

In the 41st over of the chase, this stand was broken with Michael Bracewell getting Rutherford stumped, to give New Zealand hopes of a late heist. In the44th over, Jayden Lennox picked his third wicket of the game- dismissing Gudakesh Motie - and took his series tally to 14 wickets. Jacob Duffy ruffled more feathers in the 45th over as he cleaned up Matthew Forde and sent Alzarri packing for a first-ball duck. Hetmyer watched on from the other end as West Indies slipped to a tricky situation at 248/8. But he soldiered on and saw the chase through in the company of Jayden Seales.

Before Hetmyer and Rutherford came together for the chase-defining alliance, West Indies made an odd start to their riposte. Ackeem Auguste and Justin Greaves got them off to a flier by adding 57 in 5.5 overs before Nathan Smith put the brakes on their endeavours with the former's wicket. Justin Greaves fell in the next over to Duffy and the chase wobbled out of control. Keacy Carty struggled on his way to a 54-ball 20 that included no fours or sixes, even as he combined to add 59 with Shai Hope. That stand took 16.3 overs and put West Indies well behind the eight-ball. Their dismissals however, in the space of two overs brought Hetmyer and Rutherford together that sparked the turnaround.

Earlier in the day, New Zealand were buoyed by three half-centurions en route to the biggest total of the series. After Forde knocked back Henry Nicholls stumps in the fifth over, Will Young and Nick Kelly forged a second wicket partnership worth 86 runs. During the course of this stand, Young brought up a 52-ball half-century before being cleaned up by Vitel Lawes.

The impressive Lawes soon took out Mark Chapman too, but Kelly then joined forces with his captain Tom Latham for another useful stand. During the course of it - 54 off 60 - Kelly went to his half-century and then perished on 64. Latham found able allies in Mitchell Santner and even Duffy towards the end to push his side to 268/9 in 50 overs. Latham top-scored for New Zealand with a 71-ball 69, with Alzarri and Lawes bagging two wickets each and the other three bowlers - Forde, Seales and Motie - picking one apiece.

Brief Scores: New Zealand 268/9 in 50 overs (Tom Latham 69, Nick Kelly 64, Will Young 56; Alzarri Joseph 2-38) lost to West Indies 269/8 in 47.3 overs (Shimron Hetmyer 69*, Sherfane Rutherford 61; Jayden Lennox 3-35, Jacob Duffy 3-67) by 2 wickets.