AUCKLAND // Daniel Vettori has criticised the super-over eliminator format after New Zealand lost the Boxing Day Twenty20 encounter with the West Indies at Eden Park by 10 runs. The New Zealand captain was smashed for 25 runs by his West Indies counterpart Chris Gayle as the format was employed for the first time in the sport after the teams had finished their respective 20 overs level on 155 runs. Gayle`s onslaught included three sixes and a four while New Zealand in reply could only manage 15-2 from their super over to lose by 10 runs in Auckland.
The two sides also tied a Twenty20 match at the same venue in 2006 with New Zealand eventually winning courtesy of a bowl-off where bowlers attempted to hit the unguarded stumps. Neither method has impressed Vettori, who was New Zealand's best bowler with 3-16, before his one-off over to Gayle. "I think a tie's a tie. What's wrong with a tie? I have no issues with it," he said. "I understand the appeal of it. I suppose if you're sitting on the other side of a win you might enjoy it. "The game`s called Twenty20. It`s not called One1. We don`t want to dilute it too much."
Gayle has been in tremendous form in New Zealand and looked to be steering his side to a comfortable victory after taking 30 runs off Tim Southee`s first two overs and reaching his half-century with his fifth boundary in the 13th over. But his dismissal for 67 off just 41 balls two overs later sparked a collapse by the visitors and they eventually finished on 155-8 in reply to New Zealand's 155-7 after Sulieman Benn sneaked a four and a single off Southee`s last two deliveries. "Chris Gayle`s a fantastic player and if you miss a little bit to him then he can really hurt you," Vettori added. "I was pleased with the way we fought back. Chris Gayle looked like he'd taken the game away from us but we fought back in the middle stages. In the end we probably should have won it." The two sides meet at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Sunday in the final Twenty20 match before the one-day series begins in Queenstown on New Year's Eve. Meanwhile, the all-rounder Scott Styris will be sidelined for six weeks after breaking his thumb in the opening Twenty20 international. Styris will undergo surgery to have a pin inserted in his thumb, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said. He had been expected to undergo surgery on Saturday, but it was delayed until a hand specialist was available, NZC said. The hosts will not call up a replacement for Styris for the second game in Hamilton on Sunday, when the Kiwi squad for the five-match one-day international series is also expected to be named. *With agencies
