Gayle And Smith Power West Indies Past New Zealand

Gayle And Smith Power West Indies Past New Zealand

Dwayne Smith smashed a half-century as the West Indies thrashed New Zealand

©REUTERS / Action Images

West Indies 136-1 (Smith 65no, Gayle 63no) beat
New Zealand 190-9 (Watling 60) by 9 wickets (D/L)
First One-Day International, Kingston, Jamaica
Scorecard

Dwayne Smith and Chris Gayle scored unbeaten half-centuries as the West Indies cruised to a convincing nine-wicket win over New Zealand on the Duckworth/Lewis method in the opening One-Day International in Jamaica.

New Zealand were limited to 190 for nine after being invited to bat first by the home side and in reply, the West Indies reached a revised target of 136 for one.

Lendl Simmons fell for a 12-ball duck but Gayle (63 not out) and Smith (65 not out) put on an unbroken 130-run partnership to steer their side to victory.

New Zealand struggled during the Twenty20 Internationals, both of which they lost, and their problems continued as they lost early wickets, slumping to 48 for four as Andre Russell (4-45) put the West Indies in a controlling position.

Captain Kane Williamson made 24 but it was left to wicket-keeper BJ Watling, who made 60 in 98 balls, to try to take the Black Caps towards 200, although they fell short as Ravi Rampaul and Sunil Narine also took a brace of wickets apiece.

Jacob Oram supported Watling by making 32 and Andrew Ellis hit 14.

New Zealand got the early breakthrough when Simmons was caught behind by Watling off Mills but the only thing that looked likely to stop the West Indies after that was the rain.

A lengthy delay took 17 overs out of the game but with Smith and Gayle in prime form, they only required 24.2 overs to reach their target.

Gayle blasted four fours and five sixes while Smith hit six fours and three sixes.

To compound New Zealand's misery, Andrew Ellis picked up a thigh strain and was unable to field.

The second ODI is on Saturday, 7th July.

© Cricket World 2012