The West Indies tasted success for the first time on their New Zealand tour today when they scraped home by two wickets in the first one-day international.
After rolling over New Zealand for a modest 156 in 42.1 overs, the West Indies made hard work of reaching their target for the loss of eight wickets in 27.3 overs.
A rollicking unbeaten 43 from Darren Sammy in 27 balls took them over the line as wickets fell regularly at the other end.
When just the last two wickets were left, Sammy knocked off the final 10 runs with a six and a four off Mitchell McClenaghan to be sure of the win.
The victory, no matter how narrow, was a change of fortunes for a side comprehensively outplayed during their 0-2 Test series loss to New Zealand.
Although their batting remained fragile, the introduction of one-day specialists unleashed a West Indies bowling line-up that New Zealand failed to handle on a seam-friendly wicket.
Any confidence New Zealand took from the Tests quickly evaporated when they were sent into bat and faced new arrivals Ravi Rampaul, Dwayne Bravo and Jason Holder.
It was not the return to international cricket that big-hitting opener Jesse Ryder wanted.
He only faced five balls before slashing at a wide Rampaul delivery to be caught by Darren Bravo at cover point without scoring.
His failure signalled the start of a disappointing batting performance which was only rescued by the McCullum brothers Brendon (51) and Nathan (47).
