CASTRIES (St Lucia), April 7: The West Indies exited World Double-Wicket Cricket Championship at semifinal stage and New Zealand went on to capture the title in US$175,000 event at Beausejour Stadium on Sunday evening.

Sri Lanka eliminated West Indies with three-run victory in first semifinal, and New Zealand defeated England by 53 runs early, to join Sri Lankans in the championship decider.

England had been promoted into last four to replace semifinal qualifiers Pakistan, who were forced to withdraw because of injury to all-rounder Shahid Afridi.

Batting first against Sri Lanka in their semifinal, West Indies scored well with Chris Gayle slamming 46 and Carl Hooper 17 in total of 68, reflecting a 30-run reduction because they suffered three dismissals.

Gayle, dropped from West Indies side for the first Test against Australia, thumped three sixes off Mahela Jayawardene as Hooper allowed him to play attacking role.

Sri Lanka’s pair of Mahela Jayawardene (42) and Aravinda de Silva (24) suffered only one wicket-loss and squeezed to victory with 71 runs from their 10 overs, handing West Indies pair their only defeat of the tournament.

The second semifinal produced many runs and many wickets as New Zealand prevailed for a handsome win.

With format dictating a 10-run deduction from batting team’s score each time a wicket is taken, England suffered badly with nine dismissals.

Responding to New Zealand’s score of 93, England actually gathered 130 runs but suffered nine dismissals, downwardly adjusting their final score to 40 off their 10 overs.

For New Zealand, spinner Danny Vettori captured seven for 59 and Jacob Oram picked up two for 70, to regularly take wickets of Adam Hollioake (25) and Andrew Flintoff (9).

Oram had earlier belted 52 and Vettori, 36, in pushing New Zealand total to 113 runs, revised to 93 total because of two dismissals.

In the final, Sri Lankans batted first and amassed a final tally of 70 runs during their 12 overs. De Silva’s contribution was 47 and Jayawardene 22.

Oram, who was named player of the tournament, then smashed 106 to help New Zealand to 149. His partner Vettori hit 37 and Kiwis swept top prize of US$65,000.

Sri Lanka picked up US$30,000 for second and beaten semifinalists West Indies and England got US$20,000 each.

Ridley Jacobs of West Indies, and Zimbabwe’s Andy Flower were the wicket-keepers during for the tournament.

The fieldsmen were from Windwards and Leeward Islands — Darren Sammy, John Eugene, Gary Mathurin, Craig Emmanuel, Rommel Currency, Kenroy Martin, Olanzo Jackson, Junie Mitchum, Tonito Willett, Anthony Lake, Kerry Jeremy, Kirsten Casimir, Alex Adams, and Wilden Cornwall.—PPI