MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Sheldon Cottrell was saluting after the first delivery and again after the fifth in a wild first over to the Cricket World Cup group game between West Indies and New Zealand.
Cottrell had New Zealand opener Martin Guptill trapped lbw on the first ball of the match at Old Trafford on Saturday, a decision referred to the TV umpire after the appeal was turned down initially on the field.
It was the only the fourth time in World Cup history there'd been a wicket on the first ball of the match.
Cottrell got into more rarified statistical territory four balls later when he clean bowled Colin Munro for a first-ball duck.
That made it only the second time both openers have been dismissed for first-ball ducks in a World Cup match.
The only previous time was when both Sri Lankan openers were out first ball to Afghanistan in 2015.
In that case, Lahiru Thirimanne was trapped lbw by Dawlat Zadran on the first ball of the innings and Tillakaratne Dilshan was caught off Shapoor Zadran's bowling in the second over as Sri Lanka slipped to 2-2. The Sri Lankans rallied to win that game by four wickets with 10 balls to spare.
Cottrell, who is a serving member of the Jamaican defense force, has made it a trademark to make a military-style salute in tribute to his comrades each time he takes a wicket in international cricket.
He's had the chance to do it seven times so far at the tournament.
The wicket of Guptill was a major breakthrough for a West Indies team that was deflated after its most recent loss, when Bangladesh produced the second-highest successful run-chase in World Cup history to surpass 321-8.
Guptill scored a World Cup-record 237 not out the last time New Zealand and West Indies met at the tournament. New Zealand won that game, a quarterfinal in 2015, by 143 runs.
Cottrell's first over had plenty of other quirks, too. West Indies batsman Evin Lewis strained his right hamstring while fielding and had to leave for treatment.
Carlos Brathwaite was chasing a ball toward the boundary and mis-timed his dive, failing to reach the ball and needing teammate Shai Hope to retrieve it as the New Zealand batsmen ran four runs.
At the end, it was 10-2.
Things settled down over the next nine overs, and still West Indies could be considered to be in front.
After the opening power play, New Zealand was 30-2.
The opening power play contained three maiden overs, 44 dot balls and just two boundaries.
Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor were both unbeaten on 15.
