So close for West Indies

One of the most over-used sayings in sports it ain't over till the fat lady sings echoed around the Queen's Park Oval yesterday evening.

And it was simply because West Indies, seemingly heading for certain defeat, reinvigorated a hopelessly desperate position to a stage where it nearly reached Tante Merle proportions.

The tension never quite escalated to boiling point, but there was mounting excitement around the ground when the West Indies started the final three overs needing 33 runs with Ridley Jacobs in a rampaging mood.

It was a position that few would have envisaged when Jacobs was joined by No. 9 Corey Collymore when the target was still 62 away with only 45 balls available.

Collymore stayed with Jacobs while 43 were added in 5.5 overs, to the delight of the 7 000 mid-week crowd. But the run-outs of Collymore and Cameron Cuffy in successive balls at the start of the penultimate over made the task even more difficult.

A hobbling Mervyn Dillon came out as last man with 19 still required from nine balls. It proved a tall order, and New Zealand won by nine runs to keep alive their hopes of not losing the series, which ends on Sunday in St Vincent. West Indies lead the series 2-1.

The infamous, mind-boggling Duckworth/Lewis calculations and a stunning all-round performance by one of international cricket's less-heralded players had earlier combined to condemn the West Indies to what might have been a defeat by a big margin.

The expected wet-season rain interrupted the contest just after 12:30 p.m. with New Zealand making encouraging progress on 212 for five in 44.2 overs and delayed the proceedings until 3 p.m.

Under the method, West Indies asking rate was drastically inflated because of the stoppage. Only 33 overs were possible in the time remaining, but West Indies' target was the identical score posted by New Zealand.

In short, the Black Caps scored at a rate of 4.78, while West Indies were asked to score at 6.42. Such are the advantages or disadvantages of a system that was devised by two highly-qualified mathematicians.

There is nothing you can do about it. It [the Duckworth/Lewis rule] definitely needs needs fine-tuning, West Indies captain Carl Hooper said.

I think it has cost us two games this summer. We are probably not the first team to be hard done by it, but it needs to looked at.

Once the team batting first bats well and puts up a decent score, and the minute rain intervenes, the team batting second is always going to up against it.

Opener Chris Gayle hammered a run-a-ball 60 and Jacobs made the identical score of 15 balls fewer, but the other West Indies batsmen were unable to cope with Scott Styris' inviting medium-pace, with many of the them outfoxed by his variations in pace.

The 26-year-old all-rounder finished with six for 25 the best figures by a New Zealander against the West Indies in One-Day Internationals after his explosive unbeaten 63 revived his team's innings after an uncertain start.

It was only the ninth time in the history of limited-overs internationals that a player performed the double of 50 and five wickets in the same match.

Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul launched the West Indies reply with a first-wicket stand of 49 in 6.3 overs, but once Styris came on and started with a maiden-wicket, the match took a sudden twist.

Brian Lara arrived at No. 3 for the first time in the international season but lasted only five balls before snicking a defensive prod to the keeper.

Hooper lifted the tempo with 24 off 25 balls before pushing a catch to long-off off Styris. The Hindses Wavell and Ryan would later provide carbon-copies of their captain's dismissal.

In between, Ramnaresh Sarwan, sent two notches down from his usual No. 3 because of the circumstances, was bowled attempting to pull his fourth ball, while Gayle, becalmed by the fast flow of wickets, slashed a drive to point.

At that point, victory was 98 runs away and defeat a distinct possibility until Jacobs altered things.

New Zealand's total, built on a splendid recovery between their two most dangerous batsmen in the shorter form of the game, was stopped by the rain with 5.4 overs left.

Nathan Astle, woefully short of runs in the first three matches, finally put together a significant contribution, an unbeaten 91 in which he was at times forced to abandon his natural attacking instincts because of the clatter of wickets that fell around him.

It was only after big-hitting Styris helped him consolidate that he was able to move into over-drive.

They were especially severe on the Barbadian pair of Collymore and Ryan Hinds and their partnership was worth 122 off 137 balls and growing when it was prematurely ended by the elements.

Styris initiated the aggression by lifting Hinds over long-on for the first of his two sixes. The other, off the same bowler, went in the same direction and brought up his second half-century in the series, off 63 balls.

Once he became a reliable partner, Astle joined in sharing in the lashes by charging Collymore and dispatching him over long-on and a whisker away from a couple of new, impressive Suzuki vehicles on display.

Collymore's figures, which read six overs for 15 runs at one stage, were suddenly ruined when he was belted for 26 from his next two overs.

Astle seemed headed for his 13th century in ODIs and the Black Caps appeared to be on course for at least 250 when the rain came.

It was a total they would have welcomed after another uncertain beginning.

They found themselves in the world of trouble in the first 20 overs for the fourth successive match, notwithstanding that Stephen Fleming had won the toss in three of them.

The captain himself started the rot, edging Mervyn Dillon's third ball to second slip after pushing the first of the day behind point for four.

As was the case in the preceding matches, the second, third and fourth wickets went down in less time than it would take to consume a hot roti.

The action at the end was just as hot.