Cricket: West Indies suffer defeat at Whangarei's Cobham Oval

Kyle Hope hits a boundary on his way to 94 as the West Indies lost to a New Zealand XI at Cobham Oval. PHOTO/MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM

The West Indies' limited overs leg of their tour of New Zealand started in difficult fashion with a six wicket defeat to a New Zealand XI at Cobham Oval in front of a modest crowd.

With the injury bug hitting them in the past week (Sunil Ambris, Marlon Samuels and Alzarri Joseph all ruled out of the three-match ODI series against New Zealand) and a resounding test series loss, the West Indies were desperate for some success.

They seemed to string along the crowd on the embankment by showing Chris Gayle's name on the scoreboard every time a wicket fell but the barnstorming opener never strode out to the middle, opting instead to take selfies and sign autographs for his young fans.

Things looked good early as brothers Kyle and Shai Hope put on a 138-run stand for the second wicket under the Whangarei sun.

Kyle went on to retire on 94 while Shai managed 69 before he was dismissed by Aniket Parikh.

The 20-year-old Auckland off-spinner impressed for the hosts with the ball, taking 4-47 off 10 overs.

Former Black Caps off-spinner Mark Craig featured with the ball, taking 1-50 from his allotment while current test opener Jeet Raval chimed in with a wicket off his own bowling his part time leg-spin.

After looking poised to score around 350, the West Indies faltered through the middle and lower order to finish on 288.

The NZ XI started in strong fashion with Raval and Jack Boyle putting on 77 for the first wicket.

The bad afternoon was consolidated for the West Indies with opening bowler Ronsford Beaton suffering to a leg injury after the first ball of his second over.

Boyle was the first to go on 22, bringing Whangarei local Henry Cooper to the crease, much to the delight of the home crowd.

However, his stay was short lived as he was caught behind off spinner Nikita Miller for seven.

Bharat Popli joined Raval at the crease and they went about knocking off the chase as the West Indies bowling attack became loose.

Raval picked up a deserved century before racing on towards the 150 mark.

Popli was no slouch either, hitting 62 at better than a run a ball before hitting one straight up in the air.

Raval almost carried his bat through the innings but was bowled by captain Jason Holder on 169, which he picked up off 150 balls with 17 boundaries and a six.

The West Indies will need to recover quickly ahead of the ODI on Wednesday at the same venue. Around 3000 tickets have already been sold.

The Black Caps arrived in Whangarei over the weekend with Trent Boult, George Worker, Matt Henry and Tom Latham taking time to meet fans at Cobham Oval for a net and signing session.

All spectators are urged to check the conditions of entry, which can be found on Northland Cricket's website.