KEY POINTS:
Jesse Ryder's night on the booze in Wellington has given in-form Mathew Sinclair an unexpected recall to the New Zealand team for today's fourth ODI against the West Indies at Eden Park.
Burly lefthander Ryder, who shoved his hand through a glass window about 5.30am during another drinking session in Christchurch last February, has been dumped for the match and been fined after missing a 9.30am team meeting on Thursday morning following New Zealand's seven-wicket win in Wellington.
He did not attend the voluntary practice session on Thursday at Eden Park.
Sinclair, unwanted since the end of the England tour of New Zealand last March, has been in sparkling form in both the four-day first-class competition and the one-day series this summer.
He will bat at No 3, with newcomer Martin Guptill opening with Brendon McCullum.
The 33-year-old has hit 516 State Championship runs while leading Central
Districts to the top of the table, at an average of 103.2, and in five one-day shield games, he's made 331 runs at 110.33.
Despite a feeling his time had come and gone, those numbers are hard to ignore.
Ryder's second public fall from grace opened a convenient door to see if Sinclair can transfer that form to the international game. The series with the West Indies is 1-1 and the
New Zealand players know failure to wrap up the rubber - weather permitting in this weather-hit tour - is unacceptable.
"You're judged by whether you win or not and our form and our record suggests we should win, and comfortably," vice-captain McCullum said yesterday. "While we've got young guys coming in, they should still have to come into a culture where you have that winning attitude."
In the last three years, New Zealand have fashioned a strong home ODI record.
Dating back to the last West Indies visit, they have won 16 of 24 ODIs, and lost five.
It makes good reading and was the reason New Zealand sat at No 2 on the world one-day rankings behind Australia early last year.
Now they're fifth, three ahead of the West Indies.
New Zealand did win convincingly in Wellington on Wednesday. It was a significant improvement.
The bowling was thoughtful and demanding, and Ross Taylor and Daniel Flynn made sure a rocky start to New Zealand's chase for 129 did not do irreparable damage with an impressive 89-run unbeaten stand to secure the seven-wicket win.
The West Indies have been overly reliant on their three senior batsmen, captain Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and Gayle is getting fed up with the lack of progress from the younger players. "You can't rely on myself, Shiv and Sarwan to always be getting runs," he said.
"There's going to come a time we don't and those guys have to step up."
And talking until he's blue in the face won't help, either, although he has done a bit of it already. "It's got to come from within," Gayle said.
"You can talk all you want but at the end of the day they're the ones in the middle, they have to work it out and get the runs on the board."
Still, Gayle seemed to like Eden Park the last time he was here, belting 67 off 41 balls in the tied Twenty20 match on Boxing Day.
He whacked eight sixes that day and for all the frustration he feels waiting for younger teammates to stand tall, he knows the West
Indies hopes today will again, in large part, rest on his broad shoulders.
New Zealand v West Indies
Eden Park, noon today, Live SS1
New Zealand
Dan Vettori (c)
B. McCullum
Martin Guptill
Mathew Sinclair
Ross Taylor
Daniel Flynn
Neil Broom
Grant Elliott
Kyle Mills
Tim Southee
Mark Gillespie
West Indies (from)
Chris Gayle (c)
S. Chattergoon
Xavier Marshall
Ramnaresh Sarwan
S. Chanderpaul
Shawn Findlay
Brendon Nash
Kieron Pollard
Denesh Ramdin
Jeetan Patel
Nikita Miller
Daren Powell
Fidel Edwards
Lionel Baker
Carlton Baugh
