‘We played terrible cricket,’ was the assessment of West Indies captain Chris Gayle after his side's seven-wicket loss to New Zealand in the third one-day international in Wellington.
The West Indies were bowled out for 128 in 41.4 overs and were on the ropes from the opening over when Kyle Mills had Xavier Marshall caught behind by Jamie How for nought.
The West Indies' main run-scorers, Chris Gayle (18) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (five), both went cheaply, leaving Shivnarine Chanderpaul, playing his first match following a hand injury, to shoulder the burden.
He made 45 but when he departed in the 34th over the West Indies were in real danger of posting their lowest total against New Zealand.
Tail-enders Nikita Miller (25 not out) and Fidel Edwards put on a stand of 21 for the final wicket to ensure they got past that mark of 123.
But it was never going to be enough and, although they lost three wickets in the process, New Zealand reached their target of 129 with 177 balls to spare, thanks to a composed unbeaten 51 from Ross Taylor.
Gayle said: ‘I'm very disappointed with the batters. We had the opportunity to go out there and put some runs on the board but instead we played terrible cricket.
‘The batting conditions weren't difficult. There were no demons in the wicket. It was a good batting wicket.
‘Early on it was a bit two-paced and there was a bit of uneven bounce but when you get in on a wicket like that then you'll get runs. We didn't capitalise on that.’
Once again New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori (four for 20) proved to be too much for the middle order to cope with, much to the frustration of Gayle.
‘Most of the guys here have been in the Test series and have seen Vettori over and over,’ he said. ‘I'm sure they can make some adjustment.
‘He has been playing for years. We've seen him in the Test matches and in the last couple of one-dayers so there's no excuse for batters saying Vettori is giving them problems. It's time to come up with some formula and game plan.’
While Gayle believed the pitch was not to blame for his side's poor batting, Vettori felt the wicket had given more help to the bowlers.
‘It's big of him to say that it wasn't the wicket, and it probably wasn't,’ he said. ‘But I still think that there was enough in there to help the bowlers and that was the reason why we won the game.’
New Zealand were on their game from the start and Vettori said Mills' first wicket in the opening over had set the standard for the whole match.
‘I'm pretty pleased with the performance. Most aspects of the game we were on top and we did everything that I asked the team,’ Vettori said.
‘Starting from Kyle Mills, who I thought was outstanding again and has been great throughout the series, the way he bowled probably set the game up.
‘Every part of the fielding was done exceptionally well. There was a little bit of a scare with those wickets being lost early (in our innings) but Ross Taylor played one of the best innings I've seen him play for New Zealand.
‘He played all around the park and looked calm and collected and saw us through to the end.’
The only dampener on the New Zealand victory was Jacob Oram's departure from the field after bowling just two overs.
The all-rounder had come into the game struggling with an Achilles problem and Vettori said the 30-year-old would miss the final two matches of the series.
The squad for the final two one-day matches in Auckland and Napier will be named on Thursday.
