ODI series NZ 3-0 WI

1st ODI

West Indies 248/9 (50 ov)
New Zealand 249/5 (46/50 ov)
New Zealand won by 5 wickets (with 24 balls remaining)

The early bird often gets the worm, but there is an equally good chance of nocturnal birds catching it. There are also significantly different approaches to ODI cricket. New Zealand are a disciplined team, insistent on doing the basics right. West Indies rely on their strength: a batting approach that revolves around attempting to find the boundary more often than gaps through the field. The longer the duration of a game, the better the chances of discipline trumping aggression.

West Indies weren't able to sustain their approach for long enough, but New Zealand did as they limited the visitors to 248 for 9, and then chased it down clinically in the first ODI in Whangarei. Doug Bracewell, on his return to international cricket after pleading guilty to a drink-driving offence, picked up 4 for 55 from eight overs, and legspinning ODI debutant Todd Astle finished with 3 for 33. New Zealand's openers, George Worker and Colin Munro then blazed away with a 108-run stand off just 100 balls to effectively kill the game on a surface that got progressively better to bat on.

Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis began cautiously, playing out three successive maidens. The first five overs produced four runs. Both batsmen soon found their hitting rhythm, combining for five fours and a six in a 40-run opening stand. At no point did they consider singles as a scoring option. Bracewell then had Gayle caught behind off his first ball. A thick inside edge had Shai Hope two balls later.

West Indies enjoyed their best period of batting thereafter, as Shimron Hetmyer and Lewis picked their deliveries to score off. Unsurprisingly, both batsmen were in most control when they were attacking. Hetmyer, though, failed to pick a googly from Astle in the 24th over, chipping a catch to long-off, an indicator that Hetmyer hasn't found his batting tempo just yet.

As has happened so often on their tour already, West Indies' middle order was again done in by a combination of pace and the lack of it. Lockie Ferguson, generating 145-kmph speeds, had Jason Mohammed caught on the crease and chopping onto his stumps. Jason Holder was caught at gully, a one-handed stunner from Ross Taylor to his right, off a legcutter from Bracewell. West Indies had quickly slumped from 103 for 2 to 134 for 5.

After a 43-run partnership that stabilised West Indies, Lewis misread a googly, missing a sweep off a full delivery on 76. Umpire Shamshuddin, it seemed, misread the variation too, as replays showed the ball would have missed off stump. West Indies didn't have a review left.

Rovman Powell displayed admirable patience, biding his time to carry West Indies to 50 overs. In Kesrick Williams' company, he struck a belligerent 50-ball 59, which included two fours and four sixes.

New Zealand's top order, led by openers Worker and Munro, showed up West Indies' woefully under-par total. West Indies' seamers bowled two lengths: too short or too full, struggling to find the perfect length in between. Both batsmen laid into short and wide deliveries, scoring a combined 47 runs square on the off side.

West Indies, though, hit back quickly with wickets in consecutive overs. Munro lobbed a catch to short cover in the 17th over, beaten slightly for pace off the bowling of Williams. Worker then misread the trajectory of a dart from Ashley Nurse, missing a cut that was far too close to his body.

With no lateral movement on an even surface, conditions were perfect for batting. Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor looked largely unflustered in a 57-run partnership at 4.12 per over.

One of Williamson's strengths is his ability to rotate strike through third man with an angled bat, but with the line close to off stump, that stroke becomes risky. He chopped one such delivery from Jason Holder onto his stumps on 38.

Taylor stayed circumspect through his innings, displaying a keenness to take New Zealand home. His unbeaten 76-ball 49 included just two fours, but like New Zealand's way, it got the job done.


2nd ODI

New Zealand 325/6 (50 ov)
West Indies 121 (28/50 ov)
New Zealand won by 204 runs

A snowballing 130-run sixth-wicket stand propelled New Zealand to 325 for 6, before a smoldering Trent Boult blasted West Indies out for 121 with help from tearaway Lockie Ferguson.

West Indies have lost every game on tour, but rarely have they appeared so outmatched. The top order showed no fight against Boult's sniping accuracy and Ferguson's out-and-out-pace. They were virtually out of the game inside the first six overs, in which three wickets fell, and were all out by the 29th over. With this match goes the series - West Indies are 0-2 down with one match to play.

For the hosts, the 204-run victory featured several highlights. Not only were Boult's figures of 7 for 34 better than his previous best, they were also the second-best ODI figures for New Zealand by a whisker - Tim Southee having taken 7 for one run fewer in the 2015 World Cup. Henry Nicholls also produced a furious finish to the innings, after he and Todd Astle had lifted New Zealand from 186 for 5. His unbeaten 83 off 62 balls was also a personal best.

Elsewhere, George Worker produced an efficient fifty at the top of the innings, Ross Taylor's half-century held New Zealand together in the middle overs, and Ferguson made clear his potential, claiming 3 for 17 in four overs of hostile fast bowling.

Quicks of both teams were aided by the surface. Though Hagley Oval is usually the domain of swing and seam movement, it was the lift in this pitch that defined the match. West Indies had actually begun the match with some promise, dismissing four New Zealand top order batsmen with deliveries that leapt more than anticipated.

Although the West Indies' quicks' shorter lengths had proved a danger to batsman while the ball was new, there was also opportunity later on - 68 per cent of New Zealand's runs came square of the wicket. All innings long, only two boundaries were hit in the "V".

Boult began to maraud the moment he got ball in hand. He could have had Evin Lewis with his second delivery, had Worker held a very difficult chance some distance to his left. No matter. The last ball of that over zipped between Kyle Hope's bat and pad, and thundered into the stumps. Next over, Boult had Lewis miscuing a pull shot to the fine leg fielder - the drop having cost no more than nine runs.

Every time Boult bowled, a wicket did not seem far off. Still in his first spell, he had Shimron Hetmyer caught at slip for 2, then later, Shai Hope sending a ball high into the air off his top edge, to depart for a belligerent 23. By the end of Boult's initial six-over burst, the target already seemed 100 too many for the West Indies.

Perhaps they would have made a more creditable reply had Ferguson not added to their discomfort, however. Now quite clearly the fastest bowler in New Zealand - having pipped Adam Milne for that title - Ferguson went either at the stumps or at the body, and on a pitch that suited his bowling, had success doing both. Jason Mohammed was his first victim, fending at a delivery headed for his throat - the ball taking the shoulder of the bat and floating back to the bowler. Two balls later Rovman Powell played a shot that seemed to be light years two late - the offstump uprooted before the bat was even in position. Ferguson also dismissed Jason Holder with a short ball, before Boult came back to flatten the tail.

So good were New Zealand's quicks that perhaps West Indies were always going flounder, but in the first third of this match, the visiting quicks made regular breakthroughs, which suggested a contest could be on the cards. Then Nicholls and Astle turned what began as a recovery into a hailstorm of death-over boundaries. By the time Astle was dismissed for 49 in the final over, the previous 28 balls had produced 64 runs.

As was the case for Ferguson, this was a pitch that suited Nicholls' batting beautifully, however. Adept at the cross-batted strokes, he cut and pulled his way into a rhythm early in his innings, and let fly with the innovations later on. Of particular note was the overhead scoop off Ronsford Beaton in the 45th over - the shot that heralded the mayhem. Three overs later, Nicholls was walloping two sixes and two fours in a Shannon Gabriel over that yielded 22. In the first 37 deliveries he faced, Nicholls had hit 27 - overturning an lbw decision against him in that time. Off his last 25 balls, Nicholls plundered 56, even finding a place for the full deliveries beyond the square boundary.

Astle's innings was not quite so explosive - he had largely sought to turn the strike over to Nicholls, scoring exclusively with singles and twos off his first 35 balls. He did eventually hit out, slog-sweeping Rovman Powell for six twice in the 49th over. A little fortune made that final flourish possible: Astle had been dropped off Powell by wicketkeeper Shai Hope, in the 46th over.

West Indies were not completely without performers. Sheldon Cottrell - the left-arm quick who replaced the injured Kesrick Williams in this match - was the first bowler to use the short ball effectively in this match. His figures worsened as a result of New Zealand's fast finish, but he claimed a creditable 3 for 62 nonetheless. Holder returned 2 for 52 for himself.

But although visiting teams sometimes feel as they have the measure of New Zealand conditions, the home side almost unfailingly have in their ranks players who turn the match emphatically in their favour. This is New Zealand's ninth series victory in their 10 last bilateral series at home.


3rd ODI

New Zealand 131/4 (23 ov)
West Indies 99/9 (23 ov, target: 166)
New Zealand won by 66 runs (D/L method)

Trent Boult, fast, furious and virtually unplayable under overcast skies on a seaming track, ripped through West Indies' top order to clinch New Zealand's 66-run win via DLS method along with a 3-0 series whitewash at Hagley Oval.

Two nights ago, Boult had returned the second-best ODI figures by a New Zealand bowler at this venue. On Boxing Day, he picked three wickets across his first two overs to leave West Indies tottering at 9 for 5 in their pursuit of the revised target of 166 off 23 overs. That, there, was the game ripped out as West Indies remained winless on tour. More importantly, they weren't any closer to determining their squad balance ahead of the 2019 World Cup qualifiers in March.

Given West Indies' prowess in the shortest format, a target of 166 - set up for New Zealand largely by Ross Taylor (47 not out) and Tom Latham (37) - should have been right down their alley. But the loss of Chris Gayle in the first over, after he sliced a catch to point, didn't help matters. Things only became worse

Shai Hope hit a full inswinging delivery to midwicket, Kyle Hope was pinned in front by a full delivery that angled in although that was a debatable lbw call, Jason Mohammed's defence was breached by a full delivery that tailed in late to beat the inside edge and Chadwick Walton, replacing the injured Evin Lewis, was snuffed out by Boult's toe-crusher. West Indies captain Holder briefly triggered a surge as he picked off 15 off Todd Astle's first over, but the wickets of Rovman Powell and Ashley Nurse in successive overs left him high and dry.

New Zealand's spinners got into the act too. Mitchell Santner slowed the ball down and deceived Powell in flight, while Astle came back from a costly first over to dismiss Nurse with a ripping googly that left West Indies at 58 for 7. Santner went on to pick two more wickets for returns of 3 for 15.

The pace at which the house came down for West Indies was in sharp contrast to earlier in the day, when their faster men had New Zealand hopping and jumping. With every passing minute early on, it became increasingly evident that this was a very good toss to lose on a juicy surface under overcast skies.

Holder kept getting the ball to rear up at awkward lengths at New Zealand's openers. George Worker, in a bid to get the side going, chopped on against Sheldon Cottrell. Neil Broom, recalled to the side for the series and tested at No. 3, was out for another single-digit score, caught in the slips by Gayle while attempting to cut a delivery that wasn't all that short. The next over saw Holder dismiss Colin Munro, who nicked to Gayle at slip, and New Zealand were wobbling at 26 for 3.

By now, West Indies were charged up, so much that they went up for an optimistic review for an lbw against Tom Latham despite being uncertain. Replays confirmed the length ball that was angling away would've missed the stumps. That lost review would have come to their minds when Taylor survived a strong caught-behind appeal in an attempt to play hook shot off Cottrell only three overs later.

Shannon Gabriel's introduction in the 14th over, surprisingly behind the left-arm spinner Nikita Miller, allowed New Zealand some breathing room. Gabriel began waywardly and was picked by Taylor for two boundaries square of the wicket on the off side. In a bid to strengthen that side, the slip came off, only for the final delivery to race past the cordon off a thick outside edge.

Holder was a touch guilty of slipping into the defensive as early as the 13th over, when deep point and long-off were in place for Miller, as West Indies allowed the game to drift slightly. That helped New Zealand's recovery and they had reached 83 for 3 in 19 overs when the rains arrived to frustrate players, fans and officials for the next five hours.

A wait of close to three hours looked set to end when the umpires deemed the outfield fit enough for a 33-overs-a-side contest, only for the rain to return five minutes before resumption. Then there was another inspection, following which the match was reduced to 27 overs. It drizzled again. Just as the threat of an abandonment surfaced, the rains relented again for the umpires to truncate the game further to 24 overs, before they finally settled on 23 with the clock veering towards a call-off.

First Latham, and then Henry Nicholls picked off crucial boundaries in the end overs by unsettling West Indies' predictable lengths. Taylor then lent the finishing touches by picking two boundaries in the final over that went for 16. He was the top scorer with 47 not out as New Zealand added 48 off the last four overs to finish with 131 for 4. The surge towards the end that resulted in a target revision may have well been the clincher for West Indies.