New Zealand beat West Indies by nine runs under the Duckworth/Lewis method in the rain-disrupted fifth One-Day International at Mclean Park in Napier on Tuesday to win the series 2-1. Chasing 294 for victory after Chris Gayle's 135 and Shivnarine Chanderpaul's 94 had lifted the visitors to 293 for nine, New Zealand was 211 for five after 35 overs when players left the field in heavy rain. Ross Taylor was 48 not out, while Grant Elliott was on 14 when umpires ended the match and awarded the victory to New Zealand, who needed to be above 202 for five at the end of the 35th over. “We almost got lucky that the rain came and we took the power play at that time. Rosco hit those two fours which were the two defining moments really,” New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori told reporters. “Ross was the key. If we lost him it may have been difficult but I still would backed us to get that run-rate.” The series was badly affected by wet weather, with two matches abandoned and West Indies winning the rain-shortened second match by two wickets. New Zealand had been cruising to victory at 175 for three in the 29th over before losing two wickets off successive deliveries from Daren Powell. The West Indies fast bowler, who conceded 23 runs from his first over and was involved in heated exchanges with New Zealand openers Jesse Ryder and Brendon McCullum, caught and bowled Daniel Flynn (21) off a mistimed hook then trapped Neil Broom in front for a duck. The double strike left New Zealand behind the required asking rate as dark rain clouds rolled towards the ground. Taylor, who scored 75 in the fourth match in Auckland, then combined with Elliott to see New Zealand back above the required rate and ensure the earlier work of Ryder (21), McCullum (41) and Martin Guptill (43) was not wasted. Powell finished with three for 66 from 10 overs. Earlier, Gayle smashed his 19th century in One-Day Internationals and combined for a 170-run partnership with Chanderpaul, to set a tough target for the hosts. The efforts of the pair, who have virtually carried their team's batting fortunes on their five-week tour of New Zealand, were, however, undone by the lack of support from their teammates. Kieron Pollard provided a brief eight-ball cameo of 19, which included two sixes and a four, while Ramnaresh Sarwan scored 22. No other player made double figures. The visitors had looked on course to post a total in excess of 300 on a superb batting wicket, but the tail opted to slog rather than accumulate runs and were unable to get hold of some tight bowling at the death.
