The Black Caps were sent in by the West Indies and given a positive start by Tim Robinson and Devon Conway, who racked up 45 off the first five overs. A fluent Robinson struck frequently over the infield in the early running, striking four boundaries and a six, while Conway looked scratchier but did manage one extraordinary ramp shot straight back over wicketkeeper Shai Hope’s head for six off Jayden Seales.
The left-hander continued to struggle to keep things moving though, and was soon bowled for 16 off a painful 24 trying to heave Matthew Forde away.
Kept quiet himself for a couple of overs, Robinson tried to hit out again but was cleaned out by an outswinging jaffa from Romario Shepherd, departing for 39 from 25.
Mark Chapman and Rachin Ravindra were left to rebuild as the run rate dipped below 7 in the middle stages.
Looking to get things moving again, Chapman flicked and drove Shepherd for 6, 6, 4 in the 13th, then pulled the next ball high into the stands over backward square leg for good measure. But when Ravindra (11 from 15) tried to get in on the action too, he could only sky offspinner Roston Chase up for Hope to pouch behind the stumps.
Chapman was undaunted though, scything Chase over long off on the back foot in the same over for another six. He then took to Seales’ next over, smashing three consecutive boundaries — the second of which brought up his 50 off just 19 balls — before a wide, then a further four and a six to cap it all off.
The carnage continued in the 16th from left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein, in which Daryl Mitchell first hit well over the long-on rope before Chapman swung lustily again to pick up two more legside sixes.
Chapman tried to muscle a Jason Holder short ball down the ground in the next over, but only succeeded in swiping it high for the bowler himself to settle under.
But the left-hander had well and truly made his stay count, having ended his run of poor scores, and left to warm applause from the sparse crowd for his 78 off just 28 balls.
Michael Bracewell (5) came and went quickly, leaving Mitchells Daryl and Santner to try to put the finishing touch on the innings.
Mitchell was denied a six at long off by a spectacular catch-and-throw-in at the rope by Rovman Powell. But Santner flat-batted Holder over midwicket for the innings’ 11th six and Mitchell clobbered and finessed two boundaries in the final over before Santer lifted the final ball of the innings majestically back over Seale’s head for six, and his side to a strong total of 207 for five.
The Windies had fought back well at the halfway point of the innings, but the Black Caps powered home with 90 runs off their final six overs.
The Windies’ reply started poorly as Jacob Duffy opened with a wicket maiden, nicking off Brandon King for a duck as the opener threw his hands at a wide one.
More tight bowling followed — Duffy’s first three overs went for just seven runs — and although Alick Athanaze deftly targeted Eden Park’s infamously short straight boundary to ramp Kyle Jamieson nicely for two sixes in the fourth over, after five the West Indies were just 24 for one, with the asking rate already over two a ball.
Grasping the urgency, Athanaze struck the incoming Zak Foulkes for a six and a four, and reverse swept Bracewell for another. Hope then deposited Bracewell into the wilds of at cow corner to continue the momentum.
But when Athanaze (33) went to the reverse sweep again off returning veteran Ish Sodhi, he only managed to top edge to a backpedalling Duffy.Hope was joined by Ackeem Auguste (7) but the No 4 could make little headway before Sodhi struck again, as Auguste looked to hit inside-out into the covers but only succeeded in finding Chapman, who continued his fine night by haring in from the boundary to take a fine catch diving forward.
Sensing weakness, Santner brought himself on and immediately knocked over a bogged-down Hope (24), who was bowled in what looked like an attempt to hit the ball into downtown Hamilton.
Jason Holder (16) made use of his long levers to deposit the first two balls of Sodhi’s next over for a brace of sixes, but the leggie bravely floated up a googly that the all-rounder failed to pick and it spun through the gate into off stump, leaving the visitors 91 for 5 and with a mountain to climb.
In the next over, Santner kept the pressure up by having Chase (6) caught at deep extra cover, again by Chapman.
No-one told Shepherd the game was over, though. He hit Sodhi for consecutive sixes in the 14th, making a bit of a mess of the New Zealander’s otherwise fine figures (three for 39), then Powell muscled Santner down the ground for another.
Shepherd then got lucky as he pulled Foulkes high towards the midwicket boundary between Chapman and Robinson who stopped to watch it sail over for six, only to look embarrassed as it bounced short of the boundary between the two of them and away for four.
As if to show his partner how to properly play the shot, Powell played it twice more in the over — but these times the only chances for a catch were high in the crowd. Then he pumped the last ball of the Foulkes over for another six high, wide and handsome over long off.
Shepherd then swung the first two balls of Santner’s next over, the 17th, high and straight to make it 5 sixes in six balls — and suddenly New Zealand fans were nervous.
Santner found a breakthrough, getting lucky with a low full toss to Shepherd who this time could only hit it as far as Bracewell at long off. The big fast bowler departed for an entertaining 34 from 16.
But still, the West Indies refused to lie down. Three more sixes disappeared in the 18th from Jamieson; incoming No 9 Matthew Forde got straight into his work with a pair, while Powell flicked a full toss over fine leg — that tiny boundary again — and suddenly the West Indies needed 30 from the last two overs.
Powell then started the 19th from Duffy with a six and a four. Forde, though, could only pick up three from the rest of the over, leaving the West Indies 16 to win off the last.
Offered width from Jamieson, Forde flat batted him over extra cover for four. Jamieson responded with the perfect bouncer for a dot — but then offered a juicy full toss that disappeared to the extra cover boundary again. Worse still, the TV umpire discovered a no ball. Forde though could only pick up a single to cover. Six from three needed.
Powell went for them in one shot. But he skied the ball high into the Auckland night and under it at point was — of course — Mark Chapman, who safely caught it to send Powell back for 45 from 16, an astonishing display of power hitting.
Left with six to get from two, Hosein and Forde could only manage a single each, and New Zealand had escaped — just.
The squared-up series now heads to game three of five at Nelson on Sunday.
