Cricket: NZ win bowl-off after Twenty20 thriller

Chris Cairns acknowledges the crowd as he leaves the field. Phil Walter / Getty Images

New Zealand beat the West Indies in a first-ever bowling shootout in their Twenty20 cricket international last night after the scores were tied at the end of 20 overs at Eden Park.

Fast bowler Shane Bond (twice) and medium pacer Scott Styris were the only bowlers to hit the stumps, allowing New Zealand to win the shootout 3-0.

Both sides had scored 126 apiece, New Zealand reaching the West Indies' total only after Bond hit the last ball of the innings for four.

New Zealand looked to be cruising to victory after progressing to 73 for two in the 10th over, with Lou Vincent in imperious form hitting 42 off 37 balls.

But they lost six wickets for 44 runs in the last 10 overs, and it was only a quickfire 16 from tailenders James Franklin and Bond off the last over of the innings from Ian Bradshaw which saw the scores tied.

The remarkable result provided a great send-off for New Zealand allrounder Chris Cairns, who was playing his last international match.

Cairns could not take a wicket, scored just two runs from nine balls and missed the stumps with both his balls in the shootout.

But he effected a run-out of Dwayne Smith with a right-handed flick when following through a delivery in his first over, and took a running catch off Bond in the last over of the New Zealand innings.

The West Indies seemed to struggle with the format in their first Twenty20 international.

They were just 28 for two after eight overs, with the batsmen finding it hard to score off fast bowler Bond in particular.

Daren Ganga and captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul both scored 26, but their score of 126 for seven seemed to be too small to be competitive.

The Black Caps lost Stephen Fleming for six and Nathan Astle for five, but Vincent was scoring so quickly that the score was 45 when the second wicket fell.

Scott Styris also played a useful hand of 19 off 16 balls as New Zealand looked well on the way to victory.

The middle order collapse seemed to swing the match in the West Indies' favour until a six from Franklin and a four from Bond in the last over earned New Zealand a shootout.

Fleming labelled it a "very strange" game.

"I thought our bowling went really well and the fielding set a pretty good standard for the five one-day games coming up," he said.

"Restricting a side to 120 on Eden Park is a very good effort -- we got some good things out of that first 20 overs.

"But our batting was pretty dumb, we just got caught up in trying to get the game won and play the big shots and please the crowd, and no one really did any hard work.

"Hopefully we get it out of the way now but I'm not overly happy."

Fleming also paid tribute to Cairns who received several standing ovations during the night from the big Eden Park crowd.

"It's very sad to see him go. He was very emotional during the day and we're very sad to see such a great player leave our side.

"He's a great player, a guy that can win matches.

"A great bloke, he had a some problems early on but he became a champion guy and a fantastic cricketer, and a great friend."

Cairns said he was delighted with the result and the send-off he received.

"How can you top that? It's an amazing way to finish a career," he said.

"I just wanted to put in a professional performance, that was the biggest thing. I think I fielded and bowled well but I do wish I'd been able to connect with one with the bat."

- NZPA