HOMETOWN HERO! New Zealand's Nathan Astle turns the ball down leg side against the West Indies in their first one day international cricket match at Westpac Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand, yesterday. Astle scored a smart looking 90, as the Black Caps won by 81 runs.

by TONY COZIER In WELLINGTON

IT is a habit they cannot break and it caused the West Indies more grief
at the Westpac Stadium here, yesterday.

As has become the case in every form of the game, even in their inaugural Twenty20 International on Tuesday night, the West Indies found it impossible to maintain the necessary standards for the duration of the match and were duly thumped by 81 runs by New Zealand in the first in the series of five One-Day Internationals.

They managed to hold their own for less than a third of the allocated
100 overs.

They claimed seven wickets for 63 in the last ten overs of the New Zealand innings to restrict the total to 288 for nine, which, at 224 for one, at the start of the 39th, seemed certain to rise to well over 300.

Pursuing their demanding, but not impossible target, they were in touch only during an interlude of 17 overs when Daren Ganga and Ramnaresh Sarwan shared a restorative third-wicket partnership of 88 after the early demise of Chris Gayle and, first ball, Runako Morton.

Once Ganga spoiled an efficiently compiled 54 (off 77 balls with eight fours) by loosely driving a catch to short extra-cover from medium-pacer Scott Styris in the 22nd over, the West Indies never presented a serious challenge.

They were out-batted, out-bowled and out-thought, but the most glaring difference between the teams was in the fielding. Only Dwayne Smith and Ganga came close to matching the speed, throwing accuracy, and athleticism of their opponents.

With the advantage of the toss, and batting first on a gloriously sunny, cloudless day, veteran Nathan Astle, 34, in his 208th such match, and Jamie How, 24, and in his fifth, took toll of ineffective bowling and lacklustre fielding to set the foundations for a formidable total.

Their opening stand of 136 was New Zealand's highest in 41 such matches between the teams.

Even when How, a batsman strong on the pull but with an otherwise limited range, was bowled by Gayle's trademark yorker during the only maiden of the innings in the 26th over, Astle and his left-handed captain Stephen Fleming added a further 88 from 13.3 overs.

Stirred by Gayle's restrictive, block-hole off-spin, the West Indies suddenly turned on the kind of cricket of which they are capable but rarely produce.

Dwayne Smith set off the come-back with the wickets of Fleming for 36 (34 balls, two fours) in the 40th over, to a catch to short-extra cover off a slower ball, and Astle for 90 (106 balls, seven fours) to a drive to close-in mid-wicket in the 42nd.

Gayle, leg-spinner Rawl Lewis (a historic notation as the West Indies' first "super sub"), Ian Bradshaw, and the fiery Fidel Edwards all claimed wickets as New Zealand were held to 63 for seven with only two boundaries from their last ten overs.

Gayle and Smith did most to put the brakes on the hosts, Smith with his medium-pace and with a stunning pickup and throw from the deep that ran out Hamish Marshall. But it was Edwards who would have set pulses racing in the home team dressing room.

Consistently generating pace of 90 miles an hour, he troubled both openers in his sharp first spell.

He returned to clatter Fleming's helmet with a wicked bouncer in his second and finished with late, in-swinging yorkers that brought Styris ten involuntarily runs off the inside-edge in the last over before one pinned him lbw. It was the most encouraging feature of the grim night.

The last ODI at this impressive, rugby-oriented venue, between Australia and New Zealand last December, yielded 642 runs from the 100 overs.

So their goal was certainly not beyond the West Indies – until, that is, Gayle skied an awkward, cross-batted stroke off the pacy Shane Bond high to mid-off from the first ball of the fourth over and Morton drove optimistically at the first ball he faced, missed and was bowled by left-armer James Franklin's full-length in-swinger.

They were two unwanted setbacks but Ganga gained in confidence after a hesitant start, and Sarwan, still not fully over the flu that kept him out of Tuesday's Twenty20 in Auckland, gradually repaired the early damage.

Both passed 50 but a lot more was required from both. Ganga fell to a slack, uncharacteristic shot and only Smith, with typically clean hitting, caused any optimism after that. By then, it was too late.

Captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul looked assertive in raising 18 from 19 balls before he was bowled between his legs and through his crab-like stance by off-spinner Jeetan Patel (New Zealand's super-sub).

Wavell Hinds could hardly get the ball off the square for 16 deliveries and then pulled the 17th into deep midwicket's lap from classy left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori.

Vettori was lucky to gain umpire Tony Hill's favour on a catch that came from the 'keeper's shoulder, not Sarwan's bat.

Sarwan, whose 56 occupied 83 balls, left at 153 for six in the 35th over and, although Smith was soon sending Patel three times into the leg-side stands, the equation by then was all but impossible.