That was pretty much a perfect game for West Indies, starting with the new ball spell of Andre Russell, backed up by the bewitching bowling of Sunil Narine, who proved far too tricky for the inexperieced New Zealand batting. BJ Watling's half-century helped New Zealand avoid complete humiliation, but the 190 they put up was never likely to test the home side, even less so when NZ lost Ellis to an injury reducing their bowling options. Gayle got his third successive half-century, and Smith reached a fifty of his own to ensure there were no troubles in the chase. A lengthy rain delay kept the home crowd waiting but once the showers went away and play resumed, it was a quick finish.

Abhishek Purohit is putting the finishing touches to his match report, check it out.

Post-match presentation:

Kane Williamson: "I guess we didn't start too well with the bat, we scrapped our way to some sort of the total, and again the power-hitters hurt us. We can learn from the West Indies, they bowled well, swung it a bit, we need to learn from the mistakes we are making. We are looking to improve and close the gap, which is looking quite big at the moment. We are a young side, playing a very experienced side, we have to show the West Indies side that we can compete."

Darren Sammy: "Very pleasing (Russell's performance). For a long time we have been struggling with the bat, and it is nice to see us winning by nine wickets."

Man of the Match is Andre Russell: "I knew how important this game was. It was my mom's birthday, I gave her a good surprise. The wicket tends to have some moisture in the morning, we had to keep it tight then as it gets a little flat in the middle overs."

Well, that's about a wrap from us here. Catch you during the second game on Saturday. Seeya!

24.2

Guptill to Smith, 2 runs

this time he does, and he sends that to the deep point boundary, a full and wide ball, an utterly one-sided game this, would have been a travesty if New Zealand escaped because of the rain

24.1

•

Guptill to Smith, no run

well outside off, smith wanted to send that out of the ground, doesn't connect

Guptill, of all people, bowling now

end of over 248 runs

WI: 134/1CRR: 5.58 • RRR: 0.22

Dwayne Smith63 (75b 6x4 3x6)

Chris Gayle63 (57b 4x4 5x6)

Jacob Oram 5-0-37-0

Tim Southee 7-1-37-0

23.6

Oram to Smith, 1 run

works it away towards short midwicket for a single, that was a full ball well outside off stump, Smith mistimes his drive

23.5

1lb

Oram to Gayle, 1 leg bye

angling down the leg side, helped to the right of the keeper, who moves quickly across and takes off a glove and underarms the ball towards the stumps

23.4

Oram to Smith, 1 run

again on the pads, again Smith clips it, just a single this time as the deep square leg fielder stops it

23.3

Oram to Smith, FOUR runs

another boundary, West Indies finishing this in a hurry, that was a full ball on the pads, whipped to the deep backward square leg boundary for four

23.2

Oram to Gayle, 1 run

a slower one from Oram, helped towards deep square leg for a single

Rokhan: "What's the bet despite a thrashing in this series , NZ still overperforms in the world t20 and WI underperform? :P"

23.1

•

Oram to Gayle, no run

Oram continues the trend of full tosses, slightly high this one, just above the knee roll and that is turned towards square leg

end of over 2310 runs

WI: 126/1CRR: 5.47 • RRR: 1.00

Chris Gayle62 (54b 4x4 5x6)

Dwayne Smith57 (72b 5x4 3x6)

Tim Southee 7-1-37-0

Jacob Oram 4-0-30-0

22.6

Southee to Gayle, 1 run

thumps it towards a wide mid-on, it is a full toss again from Southee, a single is taken

22.5

Southee to Smith, 1 run

on the pads, clipped towards deep midwicket, that was another full toss from Southee

22.4

Southee to Gayle, 1 run

a yorker on middle stump, squeezed out towards extra cover

22.3

Southee to Gayle, FOUR runs

a low full toss well outside off, slashed away to the sweeper cover boundary, some of the fans in the crowd also join in signalling the boundary

22.2

Southee to Smith, 1 run

22.1

Southee to Smith, 2 runs

dropped by Nicol, smith skied that overpitched ball towards point, several fielders were converging on that, Nicol called for it, got under it in time, tried to take it with his fingers pointing up with the ball coming over his shoulder, couldn't hang on

end of over 225 runs

WI: 116/1CRR: 5.27 • RRR: 1.81

Dwayne Smith53 (69b 5x4 3x6)

Chris Gayle56 (51b 3x4 5x6)

Jacob Oram 4-0-30-0

Tim Southee 6-1-27-0

21.6

Oram to Smith, 1 run

another full one, outside off, that is drilled towards long-on for a single

21.5

•

Oram to Smith, no run