Adam Parore: Black Caps needn't fear anonymous Windies

If you want to know what shape the West Indies are in right now, see how many of these names ring a bell: Runako Morton, Rawl Lewis, Deighton Butler, Jerome Taylor and Dwayne Smith.

It's a far cry from the days of Ambrose, Walsh, Richards, Greenidge and Haynes striking fear round the cricket world.

And that's why New Zealand must be favourites for the one-day series, starting next Saturday, after the Twenty20 hitout at Eden Park on Thursday.

Even though Chris Cairns has gone, and others like Jacob Oram and Kyle Mills are injured, a glance at the West Indies' record in New Zealand should indicate how the land lies. Even in their prime in 1980, they lost the test series and the last time they were here, in the 1999-2000 season, New Zealand won the ODI series 5-0, and both tests.

The West Indies have not got much better since then, although there were signs in Australia late last year that they might be starting to dig their way out of a giant hole.

Their master batsman, Brian Lara, is not arriving until the tests start and captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul, good batsmen that he is, never struck me as leadership material.

Indeed, he and Pakistan's Inzamam-ul-Haq were probably the two men I'd have regarded as least likely skippers among players I faced. But in Inzy's case, he has proved me wrong.

New Zealand had an embarrassment of riches before Christmas.

Things have changed and fast bowler Michael Mason is the latest to get a chance.

Everything is being done with the World Cup in mind. It's an old adage that it's always best to look at what lies immediately ahead rather than peering off into the distance.

But that's not the way things are done in most sports these days. The biggest picture looms largest, and that's not the West Indies.

And frankly I don't like our chances in the Caribbean early next year if we're heading back to the dibbly-dobbly days of old.

Sure, we had some success, on occasions, in the days of Chris Harris and Gavin Larsen, but we need to develop more punch in our attack.

Slow medium pace with the keeper standing up will win the odd game, but it has never won a World Cup and it never will. Nathan Astle and Scott Styris can do a job for a few overs, but if we expect them to be regular providers of 10 overs an innings then we are in trouble.

I'm assuming the selectors, who have been remarkably perceptive as a panel for the past year or so, are aware of this and, as a consequence, Mason gets his chance. If he's smart he'll see a big opportunity.

And so farewell to my old teammate Cairns.

After proving his point by battling back from being dropped for the trip to South Africa last year, I suspect the energy, focus and desire which went into that left him drained and perhaps wondering: "What's next?"

I assumed he was a certainty to carry on to the World Cup in the Caribbean, then call it quits.

If you look at his numbers it's hard to argue he wasn't one of the best of all time.

It seems to me that those who begrudge him this mantle do so on the basis that he only hit his straps for six or seven years, rather than 10. A fair point, but a bit like chastising Lara for making only 450, when you know he could have made 500.

On his day he was universally regarded by his opponents as the best in the game, bar none.

He was one of very few who could really damage every team, including the Aussies.

To me, he was at his best on the England tour of 1999. I remember finding him hard to keep to on that trip and it's no surprise batsmen 15m closer than me had their hands full.

Every year he'd have a few days when he would simply take apart whoever he happened to be up against. For the rest of us those days would be our career highlights. For Cairnsy it was just standard, and we grew accustomed to it.

On that tour, he did it day in, day out for 10 weeks.

We won that series largely thanks to him. He was the whole package.

And I'll bet there'll be the odd day in the Caribbean next year when we'll wish he was striding out to the middle.