KEY POINTS:
He may be one of their better known adversaries, but New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori continues to tie the West Indian batting order in knots as momentum in a fluctuating one-day cricket series shifts to the home side.
Vettori produced his latest man of the match performance as New Zealand levelled the five-game series with a crushing seven wicket victory at Westpac Stadium before the floodlights were fully illuminated.
Set 129 for victory after the West Indies folded for 128 after being sent in, New Zealand had the one-sided contest wrapped up inside 21 overs. They head to Auckland today, venue of the penultimate match at Eden Park on Saturday, brimming with confidence.
The West Indies, buoyant after winning a rain-affected game two in Christchurch are now in rebuild mode - their plans to counter Vettori a prime consideration.
The veteran left arm spinner had the luxury of joining the wicket-fest in the 20th over with the specialist batsmen, apart from Shivnarine Chanderpaul, out of harm's way.
He promptly bowled ten overs unchanged and took four for 20, ripping the heart out of the tourists' middle order.
Vettori's second best ODI haul against the West Indies - five for 30 at Lord's in 2004 remains the benchmark - leaves him with series figures of six for 74, an average of 12.33.
Crucially Vettori has also stemmed the run flow, the 24 overs he has spread over Queenstown, Christchurch and yesterday have been delivered at an economy rate of 3.08 runs apiece.
West Indies captain Chris Gayle was deceived by the canny 29-year-old in Christchurch and admitted his team must find ways of limiting the damage Vettori is prone to cause.
"Most of the guys were in the test series and they've seen Vettori over and over. I'm sure they can actually make some adjustment," he said optimistically.
The fact Vettori has been on the circuit since 1996-97 should be an advantage but the West Indies batting line-up have consistently been unable to impose themselves or safeguard their wickets.
Vettori led New Zealand's averages in last month's test series with 10 wickets at 21.8 including a career-best haul of six for 56 (against the West Indies) in Dunedin.
Gayle knows Vettori's guile better than most but his flight and variations still cause headaches, much to the hard-hitting opener's dismay.
"He's been playing for years, we've seen him in the test matches and the last couple of one-dayers.
"There's no excuse for any batter to go and say Vettori is giving them problems and that sort of thing. You have to come up with some formula and work out a game plan."
Gayle said Vettori was not spinning the ball prodigiously it was his control that caught his side out.
"There is a lot of variation. We have to learn how to counteract that and try and get out of these situations as quickly as possible because it will keep costing us."
The West Indies have faced plenty of left arm slow bowling in the nets on this tour courtesy of Sulieman Benn and Nikita Miller but there is do doubting Vettori is a class above that duo.
Miller made only his 10th ODI appearance yesterday, while Vettori has played the West Indies 22 times.
Vettori downplayed his contribution to a win that keeps the series alive, preferring to focus on opening bowler Kyle Mills, who skittled Gayle while taking two for 31 from 10 overs.
But there was no denying Vettori is operating in a good space regardless of the pressures of captaincy.
"I feel in control of the ball, I feel like I have a really good understanding and the fact that I'm captaining the side means I can bowl myself in what I perceive as the best possible time for a spinner to bowl," he said.
Meanwhile, New Zealand's squad was to be reselected today before the team head to Auckland with the only issue appearing to be how to cater for the absence of Jacob Oram.
The allrounder bowled only two overs before retreating gingerly to the dressing room for treatment on his injured Achilles tendon.
The selectors were pondering whether to bring in a new player or forge ahead with a squad of 12 for the games in Auckland and Napier.
On a positive note Oram was barely missed as the third seamer.
Jesse Ryder, who claimed top scorer Shivnarine Chanderpaul with his first ball, bustled in during his four over spell while Grant Elliott also trialled his medium pacers as Vettori had the luxury of rotating his resources as the wickets tumbled.
- NZPA
