Close New Zealand 257 for 6 (Fleming 130, Richardson 41, Hart 34*)
scorecard

A dogged hundredfrom Stephen Fleming rescued New Zealand on the first day of the first Test at Bridgetown after they had slumped to 117 for 5 midway through the afternoon.

New Zealand's solid first session – they went into lunch on 77 for 1 – was undone by a wretched hour after lunch during which they lost four wickets for 29 runs. But Fleming played a captain's innings, adding 108 for the sixth wicket with Robbie Hart, capitalising on wayward and generally unimpressive bowling from West Indies.

Carl Hooper gambled on the Kensington Oval wicket retaining some early moisture when he put New Zealand in to bat, but his bowlers extracted little from the pitch in early exchanges and the wicket quickly flattened out. Mark Richardson and Lou Vincent looked untroubled before Vincent edged a Dillon delivery to wicketkeeper Ridley Jacobs when he had scored 14 (38 for 1).

Whatever Hooper said to his lacklustre bowlers at the break did the trick. In the third over after lunch, Richardson was clean bowled for 41 by Adam Sanford as he tried to force the ball through midwicket (88 for 2).

One-day specialist Chris Harris, promoted to number four, looked desperately uncomfortable and lasted for only four balls before fending clumsily at a Pedro Collins delivery and edging the ball to Brian Lara at first slip (89 for 3). Nathan Astle made 2 off 16 balls before playing a woeful shot to a wide delivery from Dillon, again finding Lara's safe hands at first slip (106 for 4). Craig McMillan was only marginally more successful, scoring 6 before being trapped leg before by Sanford (117 for 5).

The collapse owed more to poor batting than any demons in the wicket and once Hart had shown that he was prepared to stay with Fleming, West Indies again looked bereft of ideas and they reverted to pre-lunch mediocrity. None of the bowlers showed ant real venom, with Darren Powell, who had been recalled from England to bolster the attack, looking as if he had little to offer apart from the occasional bouncer.

Fleming did not play a false shot in compiling his 130, stroking 20 exquisite fours in his four-and-a-half hour stay. Circumspect before tea, he cut loose after the interval and accelerated to his hundred, cashing in as the bowling grew more directionless. Hart played a crucial supporting role, content to leave the plentiful wide deliveries he received as Fleming kept the scoreboard ticking over.

Fleming's growing confidence eventually proved his undoing - he tried an extravagant late cut off Carl Hooper's gentle offspin and was caught by Chris Gayle for 130 (225 for 6). But Daniel Vettori underlined the tameness of the wicket with a breezy, unbeaten 21 before the close while the obdurate Hart remained limpet-like at the other end.

Unless West Indies show a much more professional approach tomorrow they could find themselves facing a New Zealand total of around 350. How Hooper must wish that the current crop of West Indies fast bowlers had even a fraction of the resolve of the quicks of old.

Teams
West Indies
1 Chris Gayle, 2 Wavell Hinds, 3 Brian Lara, 4 Ramnaresh Sarwan, 5 Carl Hooper (capt), 6 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 7 Ridley Jacobs (wk), 8 Merv Dillon, 9 Pedro Collins, 10 Adam Sanford, 11 Darren Powell.

New Zealand
1 Mark Richardson, 2 Lou Vincent, 3 Stephen Fleming (capt), 4 Chris Harris, 5 Nathan Astle, 6 Craig McMillan, 7 Robbie Hart (wk), 8 Daniel Vettori, 9 Daryl Tuffey, 10 Shane Bond, 11 Ian Butler.

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