Openers blast Kiwis to victory

Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder put on 130 runs to set up New Zealand's 36-run win over the West Indies in the second Twenty20 international.

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HAMILTON // Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder put on 130 runs for the opening wicket to set up New Zealand's 36-run win over the West Indies in the second Twenty20 international. The win levelled the two-match series after the West Indies won the opener in a super-over eliminator after the teams were tied. McCullum hit 59 from 34 balls with six fours and four sixes and Ryder 62 from 41 balls with seven fours and three sixes as New Zealand reached 191-9 from their 20 overs, their highest score in Twenty20 matches. Daniel Vettori took 2-19 and Jeetan Patel 2-12 as New Zealand restricted the West Indies to 155-7 in their reply.

New Zealand's win ended an eight-match losing streak in Twenty20 internationals and produced the first definitive result of the West Indies tour after both matches in the two-Test series were drawn. "It was a very good win," the New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori said. "I'm really pleased with the performance barring five or six overs when we were batting. "Brendon and Jesse were obviously outstanding. They were able to get themselves set today more than they did in Auckland and when they get set anything can happen. You can pile up some very big scores off a few balls in this type of cricket."

Ryder and McCullum smashed their way to 130 from only 11.4 overs before McCullum was caught by Shivnarine Chanderpaul off the bowling of Chris Gayle. The hosts threatened a massive total but collapsed as the last nine wickets fell for 61 runs. Jerome Taylor took 2-29 for the West Indies, Gayle 2-27 and Kieron Pollard 2-29. New Zealand struck a vital blow early in the West Indies innings when the debuting paceman Ewen Thompson removed Gayle for 1 with his second ball in international cricket.

Gayle had been the difference in the first match of the series, hitting 67 in the allotted overs and dominating the one-over eliminator. Ramnaresh Sarwan found form after struggling in the Test series and hit 53 runs from 36 balls. The West Indies weren't able to keep up with the run rate however, and their challenge gradually wilted. A 68-run sixth wicket partnership between Pollard (38) and Denesh Ramdin (30) gave some substance to the total. "We had a disappointing start, put down a few chances and didn't really recover from that," Gayle said. A five-match one-day series begins at Queenstown on Wednesday. *AP