The Black Caps have completed a One-Day International series victory over the West Indies with a game to spare, courtesy of a five-wicket victory over the West Indies in Napier.
After Hawke’s Bay rain shortened the contest to 34-overs per side, the West Indies looked to have given themselves the perfect platform to level the series.
And as has been the case in all but one of the completed matches on the West Indies’ tour of New Zealand, this one too went down to the final over.
A masterful 109 not out in just 69 deliveries from captain Shai Hope saw the visitors accrue 247/9 from their 50 overs, and asked the Black Caps serious questions in their response.
But even without Daryl Mitchell - the newly crowned No 1 ranked ODI batter - the Black Caps had enough to get home.
A fluent 90 from Devon Conway, as part of a 106-run opening stand with Rachin Ravindra (56) set the platform for captain Mitchell Santner to finish the job.
In just 15 balls, Santner hammered three boundaries and two sixes to finish 34 not out, as part of an unbeaten 54-run stand with Tom Latham (39 not out) to get New Zealand home with three balls up their sleeve.
Santner walked to the wicket at 194/5 in the 30th over, but showcased his incredible ability to find the boundary to get his side home.
Regardless, after struggling for form in recent years, Conway’s efforts with the bat will be held up as the key contribution for New Zealand’s win.
The 34-year-old looked close to the player that dominated bowling attacks in his first displays as an international, hitting 13 boundaries and one six in his 84-ball innings.
Victory sees the Black Caps record an 11th consecutive home ODI series victory, with New Zealand unbeaten on Kiwi soil since the start of 2019.
Having been asked by his opposite to bat first, Hope shone for the West Indies with his 19th ODI hundred, passing 6000 runs in the process. As wickets fell around him, Hope monstered to triple figures in just 66 balls, providing the bulk of the West Indian total.
While Nathan Smith (4/42) and Kyle Jamieson (3/44) took seven of the nine wickets to fall between them, the Black Caps’ attack struggled to contain a West Indies batting unit boosted by a shortened contest.
Even as Smith and Jamieson struck, the usually-dependable Matt Henry conceded 62 runs from his seven overs, while Blair Tickner let in 61 from his six, with one wicket.
Aside from Hope, no West Indian batter scored more than 22, however partnerships of 44 with Justin Greaves (22 off 27), 47 with Romario Shepherd (22 off 14) and 43 off 19 with Matthew Forde (21 off 11) lifted the visitors score from despair at 130/6, to set New Zealand more than seven runs per over.
At the fall of the sixth wicket, the Black Caps were largely on top. Jamieson and Henry had restricted the West Indies to just 20 runs inside the power play, which became 91/5 at halfway.
But the West Indies’ bottom-heavy batting order gave Hope the support he needed to reach his century, raised by lofting Jamieson over his head for his fourth six, to go with his 13 boundaries.
Not helping New Zealand’s cause, taking too long to complete their innings saw the Black Caps penalised, and forced to finish with an extra man inside the 30-yard circle, as the West Indies hit 117 runs from the final 10 overs.
Tasked with scoring 248 in 204 balls, the Black Caps’ opening pair began slowly, as Ravindra and Conway managed just 25 runs in the power play. After getting through the new ball, though, the pair were able to accelerate.
From 25/0, a flat Conway six saw the duo raise 50 in 61 balls, to stay on course with where the West Indies were at the same point.
At 85/0 after 14 overs, the chase effectively became a Twenty20, with the Black Caps needing 163 runs from the final 120 balls.
Having initially been the more conservative of the two, Ravindra launched five sixes and three boundaries to race to fifty in just 42 balls, as he and Conway raised their century stand in 93 deliveries - the first time since March 2020 that a Kiwi opening pair achieved the feat.
At 106/0, that stand was broken when Ravindra was caught at point by a diving Roston Chase, off the bowling of Greaves (1/35), before Conway also reached his half-century, from 54 balls.
While Conway flourished at one end, though, the Black Caps struggled at the other. As Will Young (11) and Mark Chapman (0) came and went in quick succession, New Zealand’s 106/0 became 136/3.
If there was any solace for the Black Caps, after watching the West Indies score 117 from their final 10 overs, it was that they needed just 93 from theirs, with seven wickets in hand.
A pull to the midwicket boundary off Shamar Springer took Conway into the 90s, only for the opener to fall one ball later when he carved a short ball straight to Chase at backward point, at 166/4, and 82 runs away from victory.
Tom Latham and Michael Bracewell took 15 runs from a Jayden Seales (1/51) over, and saw off Chase’s spell of off-spin, leaving the equation at 55 from 30 for victory. Forde’s return saw him trap Bracewell LBW for 11 first ball at 194/5, even if Latham was dropped on 23 at long-on by Greaves.
Needing 40 off the final three overs, Santner found the long-off boundary twice, and cleared midwicket off Forde, and hit Springer to cover and over square leg left victory at eight from the last six balls.
And while Santner got the Black Caps close, a full toss from Seales that Latham sliced to third man for four, which was called a no-ball for good measure, effectively sealed New Zealand’s win. A single from the free-hit gave Santner the chance to seal the chase, before a comical effort where the ball pulled up shy of the cover boundary, saw the duo forced to scamper home for the winning run.
The Black Caps can complete a series whitewash on Saturday, with the third and final ODI to be played in Hamilton.
West Indies 247/9 (Hope 109 not out; Smith 4/42)
New Zealand 248/5 (Conway 90, Ravindra 56; Greaves 1/35)
New Zealand win by five wickets, lead series 2-0