Can Windies avoid a whitewash?

New Zealand have dominated the first two matches of the Test series against West Indies and will be confident of sealing a series whitewash when the final Test starts in Napier on Saturday.

Predictably, New Zealand are strong favourites to win the match, at 4/5 (1.80) with bet365, while West Indies are 15/2 (8.50) and the draw is a 13/10 (2.30) chance.

The home side's 10-wicket win in the second Test not only wrapped up the series but also inflicted an eighth consecutive Test defeat on the West Indies. To add insult to injury, Shane Bond returns to lead the New Zealand pace attack in Napier.

For all their domination, however, I have not been particularly impressed by New Zealand in this series - it's just that West Indies have been so poor throughout. The loss of Ramnaresh Sarwan has severly weakened their batting and Brian Lara has not clicked yet.

However, Lara is too good not to find his form some time and the great man has made a habit, in recent years, of saving his best displays for when the series is over as a contest - think of his world-record 400 against England in the final Test or more recently his 226 in the final match against Australia.

If there is a glimmer of hope for West Indies, it could be that New Zealand have yet to win a Test in Napier. In the four matches to have been played there, they lost the first three and drew the last one against Sri Lanka.

Of course, Lara remains the favourite to be his side's top runscorer in the first innings at 3/1 (4.00), while opener Chris Gayle is 4/1 (5.00) and captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul is a 9/2 (5.50) chance.

Runako Morton, one of the few to impress so far, is 11/2 (6.50), the same price as Daren Ganga, while Devon Smith is 6/1 (7.00).

For New Zealand, captain Stephen Fleming heads the list at 7/2 (4.50), just ahead of Nathan Astle at 4/1 (5.00). Hamish Marshall and Scott Styris are 5/1 (6.00) while Peter Fulton and Jamie How are both 11/2 (6.50).