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St Lucia has hosted several outstanding Jazz Festivals in the past but it has never been the venue for the type of electrifying atmosphere that was generated at its new state-of-the-art Beausejour Stadium yesterday.

International cricket's newest venue was bursting at the seams to celebrate an enthralling six-wicket West Indies victory over New Zealand.

It was set up by yet another outstanding contribution from Mr Can Do No Wrong Shivnarine Chanderpaul and equally vital input from Ramnaresh Sarwan and captain Carl Hooper.

And significantly, it was achieved without anything noteworthy from their champion but now struggling world record-holder, Brian Lara.

He made way for Hooper and Ridley Jacobs before he came in to end a successful run-chase in pursuit of a challenging 249.

It was attained for the loss of four wickets with five balls in reserve when Lara spanked a boundary through extra-cover to trigger wild scenes.

When Hooper emerged from the pavilion in Lara's accustomed No. 4 position, the West Indies still required another 108 from 100 balls to take a 1-0 lead in the series that has now been reduced to four matches.

By then, Chanderpaul, opening the batting in a One-Day International for the first time in a year, was firmly entrenched after sharing successive stands of 55 with Chris Gayle and 86 with Sarwan.

For the remainder of the evening, the 10 000 fans in the stands screamed themselves hoarse with patois chants and did the Mexican Wave over and over as Chanderpaul and Hooper increased the tempo when it was so vitally needed.

The unstoppable Chanderpaul remained to the end, unbeaten on 108 off 135 balls his fourth century of the season in both forms of the game.

Hooper provided even more excitement with some scintillating strokes in a run-a-ball 47 before he was pacer Paul Hitchcock's third victim in the 46th over.

By then the West Indies had done enough to bring down an asking rate that stood at 7.40 after 42 overs to a more manageable 24 from 25 balls.

This was a good victory. What made it good was the manner in which we chased, Hooper said.

It wasn't exactly a small total to get, even though the wicket was good and the outfield wasn't huge, but the manner in which we got the runs; I was very pleased.

It had been proposed more than once in recent matches that the in-form Chanderpaul would move up from No. 6 and it finally came to fruition yesterday.

At the start, he allowed Gayle to do the bulk of the scoring, but he blossomed to play some enterprising strokes, none more memorable than a six over extra-cover off Daniel Vetorri's left-arm spin.

The left-handed Chanderpaul also counted eight fours on the way to his third hundred in limited-overs internationals in the identical position where he made his previous two.

We have been thinking about Shiv opening for a while. Today was an opportune time to do it, Hooper said.

He seemed pretty keen on opening. Batting through the innings is important and I thought it worked well for us.

In contrast, Lara has been a shadow of himself since returning to the game with a bothersome elbow, but there were some who felt that he would never have been demoted from his accustomed slot.

Brian has been struggling for form all during the Indian series and I'd like to say that the coach and Brian thought it best if I was promoted ahead of him, Hooper said.

New Zealand's total was clearly a lot more than the West Indies bargained for after Pedro Collins sliced through the Black Caps' top half by snatching three scalps in five balls inside his first two overs.

A position of 55 for four represented immense strife for New Zealand, but they recovered admirably after Collins removed Chris Nevin (to an irresponsible slash to a wide ball), Craig McMillan (bowled from a forcing back foot stroke) and Chris Harris (lbw shuffling across his stumps).

Before those were gone, Mervyn Dillon enjoyed the distinction of claiming the first international wicket on the ground with the finest ball of the match, which cut back sharply and cut Nathan Astle in half.

The noisy crowd, including many visitors from neighboring islands, might have anticipated an even lower total than New Zealand's 176 in their opening abandoned match, but there was a splendid recovery in two significant partnerships that involved captain Stephen Fleming.

Very early in the piece, he was showing bold aggression and the use of his feet against the faster bowlers, but as New Zealand lost wickets frequently, he changed to a lower gear and played responsibly for his 89 off 116 balls.

The first phase of the fightback was in association with Lou Vincent the pair adding 57, but the more meaningful stand was one of 81 in 18.4 overs with Scott Styris.

Styris, a big-hitter who specialises in the abbreviated version of the game, launched a calculated assault, especially in the closing stages when he clouted three sixes, including two off Dillon.

His 85 off 83 balls, which also included eight fours, ensured that New Zealand raised 76 for the last ten overs, in which Dillon suffered badly. After the fast bowler's first five overs went for 17, his second quota yielded 43 runs.

With the runs flowing freely at the death, it was surprising that Collins, the West Indies' best bowler on the day, was not utilised for his full ten overs, while the part-time spinners Gayle and Ryan Hinds did so.

Still, it did not matter in the end.

© The Barbados Nation