New Zealand vs West Indies, 1st T20I at Auckland, Jan 11 2014 - Ball by Ball Commentary

Well there you have it. An excellent all-round performance from New Zealand put them up 1-0 in the series. As Brendon mentioned at the end, New Zealand will look to close it out this time, and not make the same mistakes as they did in the 5th ODI not too many days ago. West Indies, on the other hand, will have all to play for on January 15 in Wellington. Till then, this is Rohan Sharma signing off for ESPNcricinfo.

Luke Ronchi, Man of the Match (NZ): Nice to get some runs there and help out. Feeling pretty comfortable with how I have been performing of late. Nice to put some runs on the board that is for sure.

Brendon McCullum, New Zealand captain: Happy with the performance. It was a pretty complete performance right from the get-go. They came back in the game with some pretty good bowling. The way Ronchi played it was a brilliant innings, and gave us the impetus we needed, especially when we were struggling to get bat on ball. We train hard all the time in all disciplines. We set high standards and we always strive to achieve them. We have fielded pretty well in the last 3-4 years, and we may have the odd game off, we are pretty consistent. We don't have the depth of other teams, but it is good to see performances from the group. The catching was terrific. Milne was brilliant. He is good with the new ball and the speed gun definitely got a work over. He hasn't got the rewards he deserves for in the other matches, but he definitely got some today. We look to wrap it up in Wellington. We missed an opportunity in the ODI series, so we definitely want to close this out. We have some big tournaments coming up over the next six months, so we need to produce and provide the performances.

Dwayne Bravo, West Indies captain: We are aware of strengths of Guptill and Ryder. I thought we pulled them back towards the middle, but then Brendon and Ronchi played well at the end. Wasn't much we could do then. Shows why they are some of the best players in the game in this format. Tino and the bowlers bowled their heart out, so not much we could do there. But we kept losing wickets so there will always be scoreboard pressure. I think the conditions are not the best for the slower bowlers. Narine is still world-class and is still a trump card for us. At the moment things are not going his way, but one good spell will bring him back to his best. We look forward to that (Wellington, 2nd T20). When our backs are to the wall, we are at the most dangerous.

Nathan McCullum, New Zealand allrounder: It's always nice to come out here and put a performance on the board and help the team out. There were some seriously good catches. The way Guptill fielded, and then Jesse took a screamer as well. We are pretty strong in the field. Have been a bit below par in the last few games, but we definitely showed we can be the best in the world. It's a new game and a new focus. I am a touch old, but as long as I am going around alright I will keep playing. It's a privilege and a pleasure.

We will be back shortly for quotes from the match presentation

So New Zealand complete a convincing 81-run victory over West Indies to go 1-0 up in the two-match series. New Zealand have been terrific with the ball, with Southee setting the tone, before Milne produced some terrific pace. However, both Neesham and Nathan McCullum were the stand out bowlers, taking 3-16 and 4-24 respectively. West Indies know they could have produced better, and they will have all to play for in a few days time for the 2nd and final T20 in the series.

Neesham to bowl the final over as West Indies want to survive six balls

Jacob: "I have faced Adam Milne at club level and he fast. He's been clocked at 156km/h which is Shane Bond, Brett Lee, Shaun Tait and Shoaib Akhtar level speed"

Anderson back into the attack

Alexei: "This WI lineup always looked like a "Let's pick them and hope something good happens" XI. They are depleted though.."