Cricket: Styris leads Black Caps to victory

A four-wicket haul from Scott Styris led New Zealand to a remarkable seven-run win over hosts the West Indies in a Twenty20 World Cup warmup cricket match in Guyana today.

Medium-pacer Styris' haul of four for 18 sparked a West Indies collapse which saw them lose nine wickets for 31 as they slumped to 117 all out in pursuit of 125 to win at Providence Stadium in Georgetown.

It was New Zealand's second successive warmup win after a comfortable dispatch of Ireland, ahead of their tournament opener against Sri Lanka on Saturday (5am NZT).

West Indies looked headed for a comfortable victory when senior batsmen Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Chris Gayle added 68 off nine overs for the first wicket.

Allrounder Jacob Oram broke the stand when he bowled dangerman Gayle for 35, but the hosts were cruising at 86 for one in the 12th.

Styris then took three wickets in eight balls - including Dwayne Bravo and Ramnaresh Sarwan - to shift the momentum

before Shane Bond snared the prized wicket of Chanderpaul for 53 off 47 balls.

Captain Daniel Vettori recovered from conceding 43 off three to take two wickets in his final over, ending with two for 46, then Bond closed out the win in the final over to end with a tidy two for 15 off 3.4.

Ross Taylor, 50 off 35 balls, and Oram, 46 not out off 40, earlier bailed out a poor New Zealand batting effort when no one else reached double figures in their total of 124 for eight.

New Zealand chose to bat first on the sluggish Providence Stadium pitch, but suffered a spectacular collapse to be 37 for six in the 10th over.

They rested yesterday's topscorer against Ireland, Jesse Ryder, brought in Aaron Redmond to open with Brendon McCullum and promoted captain Vettori to No 3.

Towering left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn removed McCullum, stumped, and Vettori, leg before wicket, in successive deliveries in the third over, on the way to the impressive figures of two for 12 off four overs.

Redmond, Styris, Martin Guptill and Gareth Hopkins all followed in quick succession before Taylor's and Oram's rescue act.

The pair cracked 60 off 7.3 overs before Taylor was bowled by paceman Ravi Rampaul after hitting two fours and four sixes.

Oram made a welcome return to form after a knee injury layoff, hitting three fours and two sixes in his unbeaten knock.

- NZPA