Cricket: Black Caps mugged by West Indies

Andre Russell of the West Indies celebrates his wicket of Corey Anderson of New Zealand.  (Photo...
Andre Russell of the West Indies celebrates his wicket of Corey Anderson of New Zealand. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)
No one saw this coming - the result maybe, certainly not the scale of the outcome.

Just when New Zealand seemed well set to wrap up the ODI series to follow the test rubber, the West Indies mugged them at Seddon Park.

They piled on their highest ODI score, 363 for four, then rolled New Zealand for 160 in just 29.5 overs, to square the five-game series 2-2. What's more, the defending world T20 champions will now go into the two-game contest in the shortest form feeling rather good about life.

The result was New Zealand's second heaviest ODI defeat, after a 215-run drubbing by Australia in the 2007 World Cup at Grenada.

The less said about New Zealand's chase the better. They were trying to run up a mountain in sneakers and from 65 for five there was no comeback.

By then captain Brendon McCullum had thrown his bat nearly as high as the ball flew far - he lost his grip on it - Martin Guptill had been bowled by a beauty from the irrepressible Dwayne Bravo, while Jesse Ryder, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor had found a range of ways to get out.

It's been a depressing tour in several respects for the West Indies; well beaten in the tests and seemingly on the way out of the ODI series after being on the wrong end of the two rain-affected games in the South Island.

However they found loads of character to display their best expansive batting qualities at the final opportunity, after being sent in.

Kieran Powell, the 23-year-old from Nevis, may be feeling homesick - he hasn't seen his house since the start of September due to touring activities - and had had an ordinary tour until today.

But it was his dazzling display from the start which gave the West Indies the ideal platform. The lefthander made a mess of Tim Southee and Mitchell McClenaghan's first, brief spells and the opening stand with Johnson Charles produced 95 in 12 overs.

It seemed as if New Zealand's bowlers had pulled the situation back for a time - experienced Kyle Mills doing a good holding job in his first five overs.

However once Kirk Edwards found his range and the ebullient Bravo got going, the ground simply wasn't big enough, nor the bowling remotely consistent or accurate enough.

Edwards had his slices of luck - notably inside edging the four to reach his maiden ODI hundred - but whether he was imbued with a hefty dose of the right spirit by his skipper or simply recognised early on that this would be his day, he struck the ball lustily, while man of the match Bravo was outstanding in his second ODI ton.

From overs 41-45, the pair clobbered 75. It positively rained boundaries and New Zealand had no one sufficiently parsimonious to apply the brakes. Even the usually reliable Mills' last three overs went for 39.

At times Bravo toyed with the bowling - which was guilty of contributing 11 wides - as the pair put on 211, the alltime best stand against New Zealand. His hitting was invariably clean and he mixed the brutal with the deft, while Edwards piled on his second 50 runs in only 28 balls.

"It was a terrible day for us," McCullum said last night, with a hearty dose of understatement.

The first of two T20 to round off the tour is at Eden Park on Saturday.

- David Leggat in Hamilton

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