Kiwis go one up against West Indies

Wellington: A 136-run opening partnership by veteran Nathan Astle and newcomer Jamie How laid the foundations for an 81-run victory by New Zealand over the West Indies in their five-match, one-day series opener on Saturday.

The visitor's poor One-Day record stretched to 14 losses from their last 16 games as their pursuit of New Zealand's 288 for nine foundered in the face of a tidy bowling display.

They were all out for 207 in the 48th over with New Zealand's spin twins Daniel Vettori and Jeetan Patel snapping up two wickets apiece.

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming did not hesitate to bat when he won the toss on a hot day with a dry track and the rewards were immediate as Astle and How cut and drove their way to rapid half-centuries.

Astle was particularly severe on the errant West Indian bowling as he consistently cut cleanly between cover-point and gully and went on to compile an invaluable 90.

How added 66 and Fleming chipped in with 55, but after reaching 234 for two, and eying a total well in excess of 300, the rest of the New Zealand batting collapsed.

The expected fireworks over the final 10 overs failed to materialise as the West Indies ripped through the remainder of the batting order taking the next seven wickets for just 64 runs.

Of the remaining batsmen, only Scott Styris was able to reach double figures.

The West Indies in reply recovered from the early loss of two wickets to reach 102 before the third wicket fell in the 22nd over and at that stage were still in with a chance.

Although their tail also failed to fire, they still showed enough to suggest they could still challenge New Zealand in this series.

It was their first one-day game since August, and as they did in the Twenty20 match in Auckland on Thursday, their slow bowlers managed to peg the Black Caps batsmen down, with Chris Gayle leading the charge taking two for 42.

However their quicks let them down early in the New Zealand innings. They were guilty of bowling too short, which How, Astle and Fleming happily feasted on.

New Zealand in turn have concerns over their middle-order collapse.

The West Indian chase started poorly when dangerman Gayle slapped a weak back-foot shot off Shane Bond to Vettori on six and Runako Morton was bowled first ball by James Franklin to have the visitors at 14 for two.

Daren Ganga rectified proceedings with a gutsy 54 from 77 balls taking them to 102 before he was removed.

Chanderpaul didn't hang around too long before New Zealand's super-sub Patel sent a ball between his legs, bowling him for 18. Ramnaresh Sarwan raised his half-century off 70 balls to keep the chase alive.

However, Wavell Hinds went cheaply and Sarwan followed for 56 when his attempted sweep shot flew off the wicketkeeper and then into the hands of substitute fielder Vincent.

From there the innings staggered to a slow death despite some lusty hitting from Dwayne Smith, with his 38 coming off 25 balls.