New Zealand knock West Indies' tactics

West Indies go into the decisive third ODI against New Zealand at Jade Stadium on Saturday 2-0 down and with some unintentional, yet judicious tactical hints from their opponents.

Whether Shivnarine Chanderpaul or Bennett King was calling the shots, their approach during the second successive loss in the National Bank Series in Queenstown on Wednesday was openly questioned by New Zealanders. The message was simple - be more assertive. "It was massively close but we should have lost that game," Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, admitted afterwards, with some relief.

And so they should have, recovering from the loss of the top four in the order for 15 in the fourth over and 49 for 5 to overhaul the West Indies' total of 200 for 9 with as many as eight overs to spare.

"The West Indies were reactive in the field," recently retired allrounder Chris Cairns commented in his new role as television analyst. "They were on the backfoot and seemed to be just waiting for something to happen. I'd say the West Indies ended up losing that game rather than New Zealand winning it."

New Zealand were ultimately carried to their victory by left-handed No.8 Daniel Vettori's unbeaten 53 off 56 balls with three fours, the last the match-winning hit over mid-on from Chris Gayle. Vettori shared the decisive partnerships of 71 with wicketkeeper Brendon McCallum, who scored 45 from 44 balls, and 63 unbeaten with fellow left-hander James Franklin.

He entered at 120 for 6 after Peter Fulton and McCallum had repaired the early damage and acknowledged that he was lucky he didn't have to contend with Fidel Edwards until the West Indies' spearhead was brought back when he was well set on 40.

Until then, he was confronted mainly by the spin of Chris Gayle and Rawl Lewis. "Against spin, I thought the wicket was reasonably easy to bat on and probably the fields they set made it easy to pick up singles," he noted. "It wasn't that difficult. Once you got in there, it was just (a matter) of maintaining the partnership." With inviting gaps and some slack work in the field, Vettori collected 22 singles and eight twos.

Since succeeding Brian Lara at the helm, Chanderpaul has shown himself to be a conservative tactician who favours caution over risk. He has deflected responsibility onto coach King with comments that "there are a lot of things coming from inside" and that "there is not a lot I can do".

But, whatever the circumstances that lead to the strategy on the field, he is not the only international captain who follows a predictable approach to the shortened form of the game, the one that now cries out for more creativity and boldness.

That was surely the case on Wednesday when the West Indies' most obvious, if not only, chance of victory was to bowl New Zealand out for less than their modest 200 for nine. They had the platform but could not close the deal.

When Chanderpaul brought back Edwards at 84 for 5 in the 19th over in an effort to break the threatening stand between Fulton and McCullum, he began with a solitary slip and a gully.

McCullum, troubled by the extra pace, edged Edwards' first ball through the open second slip position to the third man boundary. Immediately, Chanderpaul moved the gully into the vacant spot but the moment had already passed.

It was a repeat of Edwards' opening over in the first match in Wellington when Jamie How parried him through absent third slip for four, only for Chanderpaul to plug the position next ball.

No tactical lapse can be blamed for the wayward bowling of the promising Jerome Taylor, who has fought for consistency in all three matches on his first international appearance in three years, or for the shoddy fielding. But the captain needs to be bolder in his method, especially when his team have the initiative. It has been shown time and again that nothing slows the scoring rate more effectively than the fall of wickets.

As Geoff Longley noted in his report in the Christchurch Press, the West Indies' problems go beyond the field and beyond tactics.