West Indies vs New Zealand, at Bristol, WC Warm-up, May 28 2019 - Ball by Ball Commentary

7.15 pm There you have it folks. Curtains have closed on the tournament warm-ups matches. We're less than 48 hours away from the start of the 2019 World Cup when England takes on South Africa at the Oval. Come back and join us for wall-to-wall live coverage on Thursday morning. For Al Muthu and the rest of the scoring team, I'm Peter Della Penna. Thanks for joining us. Until next time....

Jason Holder: "It was a good win. We're building towards something special in the World Cup so to get this momentum going into the first game against Pakistan is key. It's really good to see the batsmen make full use of the surface. Credit to everybody. Shai played really well, Evin played really well, Chris was outstanding at the start and gave us the impetus we needed at the beginning of the innings and then Russ came in and did his thing at the very end with Carlos and everyone else chipping in. I was pleased with the bowlers to be honest. I thought we stuck to our task. It was a really good wicket. We did what we wanted to do in terms of letting them score on one side of the field. We expect them to come hard, we expect boundaries to come on these good surfaces but I thought we bowled really well. Just a few blunders at the very very end that we need to tighten up on. We let ourselves down in the field quite often. It's definitely an area that we need to pay some more attention to and hold our chances in the more important games. Definitely every chance is crucial and we need to hold them. We just want to play fearless cricket, express yourself and just play the brand of cricket we play in terms of enjoyment. Every day I tell the guys just play with a smile on your face, enjoy what you're doing. That's what I want the guys to do. So no expectations here. We're just going out there to enjoy what we're doing and play some really solid cricket."

Kane Williamson: "I thought the exercise today was outstanding. We know what the West Indies are capable of and they certainly showed that today with the power they have. But we also know as a bowling unit that we're going to be put under pressure on a number of occasions throughout this tournament and what better to practice trying to execute your death against some of the best hitters in the world. Although you always want things to go your way, I suppose in terms of a warm-up game, it was a great hit out. The West Indies side have a huge amount of power in their batting lineup and they showed that today. I guess you throw in a short side and a few other variables that can happen in warm-up games and things can look a little bit different but at the same time we have seen throughout some of the summers in England where there have been some really high-scoring affairs."

On Blundell's innings: "It was a fantastic knock coming in under a little bit of pressure in terms of 400 on the board and we were in a little bit of trouble. He's actually done it on a number of occasions for his domestic side. He obviously started well in Test cricket but to come in and play that role where he sucked up a bit of pressure and counter-punched was a really good sign for us. Tom [Latham] is recovering well. It's a day-by-day thing. So it's fantastic to have a guy who was initially picked as a backup keeper to hit the ball well and keep well as well."

Tom Blundell reflects on his ton down on the field: "It feels pretty good. I was just glad to get time in the middle. It was just a great day and happy to get a hundred. It's been great. The last few days have been really good. We've had two pretty good games and we're just looking forward to keep going now against Sri Lanka in a couple of days. I've had a little bit of experience playing in the Test match arena and a few T20s but I just back my ability and have the confidence every time I go out there to back my ability. I'm just looking forward to hopefully getting a shot in the World Cup. We're just going to have to wait and see. If I get the chance, great. But if not, I'm happy to be here. It was a great game. Trying to chase 420 was always going to be a tough ask but getting 340-odd, I think we did pretty well."

6.57 pm So New Zealand ends up 91 runs short, not a bad effort in the end considering how far behind they were at the end of the Powerplay. Blundell's century the standout knock. A lot to like about West Indies pacers with the new ball but some very shoddy fielding at some stages of the innings as well. New Zealand returned the favor with some poor running between the wickets. Some areas of improvement to work out the kinks before the World Cup begins on Thursday.

Cheers Al. Sodhi on strike. Henry comes in at the non-striker's end.

Well, with this thing winding up, it's time for me to exit stage left. Here's Peter to pull it through