KEY POINTS:
One over into his New Zealand career, Ewen Thompson was probably thinking this shortest form of cricket was a bit of a lark.
The Central Districts left-arm swing bowler, on debut, was on for the second over of the West Indies reply to New Zealand's record 191 for nine. The tourists' skipper Chris Gayle swung at his second ball and was caught by Jacob Oram on the mid-wicket fence.
The scourge of New Zealand's bowling at Eden Park on Boxing Day had gone, and with him the West Indies' hopes. They finished at 155 for seven, giving New Zealand a 36-run win. That ended an eight-game Twenty20 losing streak, and levelled the series, after
the West Indies won the tied match at Eden Park, courtesy of the extra over elimination decider.
Thompson was jubilant, his teammates reacted as if he'd taken a hat-trick, and it was a maiden over too, a precious commodity in Twenty20.
One of the West Indies' problems in the forthcoming ODI series is likely to be the lack of batsmen who can really shift the run rate along. Gayle, in prime form, is the standout man in this department.
Others can hurry, but none can match their skipper for dealing runs in big chunks.
Despite Ramnaresh Sarwan's snappy 53, wickets fell steadily and the West Indies were always behind the comparative run rate against a generally impressive New Zealand bowling and fielding outfit.
New Zealand's innings provided a good insight into what extremes Twenty20 can throw up.
You wouldn't have wanted to be parking the car at the start of the innings.
Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder went on a blitz, scoring at such a hectic rate that they sailed past 100 inside the first 10 overs.
Where Ryder interspersed big blows with moments of subtlety, McCullum was on a rampage. He beat his left-handed mate to the half century - 28 balls to 30 by slowcoach Ryder - and they set New Zealand up for their record Twenty20 total.
However, things went haywire for a time when New Zealand seemed likely to sail past 200.
McCullum departed in the 12th over for a 34-ball 59 - six fours, four sixes - having shared New Zealand's best partnership in Twenty20, 130, with Ryder, and that started a slide.
From that moment until Tim Southee was run out off the final ball of the innings, New Zealand lost nine wickets in just 51 balls, for 61 runs.
Only James Franklin, with 20, reached double figures. During that period, the cricket purists would have been best advised to take the dog for a walk. Welcome to the frenetic, don't blink world of Twenty20.
The West Indies weren't on top of their out-cricket either, but they did snap up some smart catches, none better than Xavier Marshall's diving snare on the mid-wicket fence to dismiss Ross Taylor.
The teams travel to Queenstown today for the first of five ODIs on Wednesday.
NEW ZEALAND
J .Ryder c Sarwan b Gayle - 62
B. McCullum c Chanderpaul b Gayle - 59
R. Taylor c Marshall b Pollard - 6
J. Oram run out - 9
D. Flynn c Ramdin b Pollard - 3
J. Franklin c Finlay b Benn - 20
D. Vettori b Taylor - 2
K. Mills b Taylor - 6
E. Thompson not out - 1
T. Southee run out - 2
Extras (12b, 4lb, 5w) - 21
--
Total (for 9 wkts, 20 overs) - 191
Fall: 1/130 (McCullum), 2/139 (Taylor), 3/142 (Ryder), 4/152 (Flynn), 5/161 (Oram), 6/164 (Vettori), 7/184 (Franklin), 8/189 (Mills), 9/191 (Southee).
Bowling: L. Baker -0-14-0, J. Taylor 4-0-29-2 (1w), S. Benn 4-0-45-1, F. Edwards 2-0-31-0 (1w), C. Gayle 4-0-27-2, K. Pollard 4-0-29-2 (3w).
WEST INDIES
C. Gayle c Oram b Thompson - 1
R. Sarwan c Southee b Oram - 53
X. Marshall c Flynn b Southee - 10
S. Chanderpaul c Oram b Vettori - 5
S. Findlay b Vettori - 13
K. Pollard c Ryder b Pate - l38
D. Ramdin c Taylor b Pate - l30
J. Taylor not out - 0
S. Benn not out - 0
Extras (3lb, 2w) - 5
--
Total (for 7 wkts, 20 overs)155
Fall: 1/5 (Gayle), 2/49 (Marshall), 3/64 (Chanderpaul), 4/87 (Findlay), 5/87 (Sarwan), 6/155 (Ramdin), 7/155 (Pollard).
Bowling: K. Mills 4-0-35-0, E. Thompson 3-1-18-1 (1w), T. Southee 4-0-44-1, D. Vettori 4-0-19-2 (1w), J. Oram 3-0-24-1, J. Patel 2-1-12-2.
Result: NZ won by 36 runs. Two-match series tied 1-1.
