Black Caps v West Indies Twenty20 at Mount Maunganui's Bay Oval heads towards sellout

Bay Oval's new floodlights will see their first international cricket game tonight. File photo

Tonight's Black Caps vs West Indies match at Mount Maunganui is heading towards being a sellout.

Bay Oval manager Kelvin Jones said ticket sales had been "huge" and last he checked mid-afternoon there were only a few hundred left.

If the rain cleared and stayed away as forecast he could see no reason the rest would not sell, bringing a capacity crowd of over 10,000 for game two of the Twenty20 series - the first international to be played under Bay Oval's $3m new LED lights.

Jones said at least a little credit for the strong ticket sales should go to the world-leading lighting towers.

"A New Year's Day game might have been harder to tempt people away from their recovery for if it had been in the afternoon."

The later time was also more convenient for overseas cricket fans, Jones said, taking the game to a wider television audience.

"We'll be showing off the Mount and Tauranga to a worldwide audience of hundreds of millions."

The match was scheduled to begin at 7pm. Gates open at 6pm.