KEY POINTS:
The perils of bowling at the death may come back to haunt Tim Southee and Jeetan Patel sooner rather than later with New Zealand coach Andy Moles indicating there would be no reprieve for the pair handed cricket's thankless task against the West Indies last weekend.
Patel and Southee were unable to quite contain Ramnaresh Sarwan and Denesh Ramdin in the final overs of the West Indies carefully plotted run chase in the second one-day international at Christchurch's AMI Stadium on Saturday night.
Offspinner Patel conceded 14 off the penultimate over of the innings, compounding the damage caused when Southee's leaked 12 in the previous over - a flurry that stoked the West Indies belief.
Needing 40 from the final four overs to reach the 158-run victory target, the West Indies got up to win by five wickets with a ball to spare as Sarwan and Ramdin took toll on New Zealand's back-up spinner and 20-year-old fast bowler.
Patel took one for 39 from five overs - the highest economy rate of his 33-match career while Southee's one for 38 from 5.5 including a maiden was his most expensive spell since his 1-68 from 10 on debut against England in June.
The pair were convenient scapegoats after the West Indies took an unexpected 1-0 lead in the best of five match series though Moles acknowledged New Zealand had not set a stern enough challenge with the bat.
Their total of 152 for eight from 28 overs - revised slightly upwards to by the Duckworth/Lewis method after a four hour rain delay - appeared sufficient until Sarwan and Ramdin combined for a momentum-shifting 48-run stand from 32 deliveries.
Southee and Patel, who boast only 45 ODIs between them, bore the brunt of the attack - an experience Moles hoped would stand them in good stead for the future.
While seven of their teammates have been released to play in today's round of the domestic one-day competition ahead of Wednesday's third game at Westpac Stadium in Wellington Southee and Patel will be addressing what went wrong in the nets at the Basin Reserve.
"We'll work in the nets in the next couple of days on areas we think we can improve," said Moles, who said the pair were still seen as candidates for delivering the late overs.
"Where (else) can they learn? We're about `Yes, we want to win every game' but we've got to expose the players so they can learn from situations in a game.
"They'll both get an opportunity again to fulfill the role that didn't quite come off.
"The message I said to them is `If we learn from our mistakes there's nothing wrong with making a mistake'.
"We should have bowled more slower balls instead of going quicker and next time they get into that situation if they can remember how (Saturday night) went and they change to get the job done better then it would have been a valuable lesson."
Although his figures suffered late in the piece in Christchurch, Patel can approach a fourth ODI on his home ground with a degree of confidence, should the wicket warrant his inclusion.
The 28-year-old has a fine record at Westpac Stadium having taken two for 23 (10 overs) and two for 46 (9.3) against the West Indies in 2006. Last February against England he took two for 14 (6.4).
Meanwhile, the West Indies arrived in the capital in good spirits.
The fitness of Shivnarine Chanderpaul remains their main concern as the key batsman has missed both ODIs with a hand injury - although fellow Guyanese Sarwan compensated for his absence.
On the bowling front the West Indians appear to be humming along nicely. Fidel Edwards, Jerome Taylor and previously unseen left arm orthodox bowler Nikita Miller shared seven wickets while conceding just 26 from their six over spells.
Vettori identified right arm paceman Taylor as the danger.
"He found a good length and mixed it up well. He taught us the wicket was a little bit slower and if you changed your pace then you had some chances. His spell was the crucial one for them, we never got any momentum."
- NZPA
