NAPIER, New Zealand (CMC):
IN WHAT has become a depressingly familiar experience for the West Indies in recent years, the tourists go into the fourth One-Day International against New Zealand on Wednesday (this evening Caribbean time) with only pride and the hope of avoiding yet another series whitewash as motivation.
Saturday's 21-run victory under lights at Jade Stadium in Christchurch has given the home side an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match duel, and their skipper, Stephen Fleming, has made no secret of his desire to keep the pressure on the Caribbean squad to ensure that his team has the psychological edge going into the three-Test series.
DOMINANCE OVER OPPOSITION
Having been at the helm six years ago when the Black Caps swept all five ODIs and both Tests against the West Indies on their last tour here, Fleming is especially keen to emphasise his team's dominance over the opposition.
Yet in keeping with the New Zealand selectors' policy of rotating players to avoid them suffering from overwork, the swift series triumph has afforded them the luxury of introducing two players who have not previously featured in this campaign against Shivnarine Chanderpaul's men.
Opening batsman Jamie How, who played in the first two one-dayers in Wellington and Queenstown, is rested, as is left-arm seamer James Franklin, who shared the new ball with tearaway paceman Shane Bond in all three victories of the series so far.
CONTRASTING CAREERS
Their places have gone to two players with contrasting careers.
Kyle Mills, a fast-medium bowler from Auckland who is no complete rabbit with the bat, returns from injury to add to his tally of 53 ODIs, while exciting young Central Districts batsman Ross Taylor gets the opportunity that many experts here have been clamouring for, especially after he scored a half century in the domestic limited-over final against Canterbury just before the start of the West Indies tour.
West Indies head coach Bennett King was left fuming after his team failed to keep the series alive after a flying start in pursuit of a target of 277 in the third match, and it remains to be seen if his stern words will have any impact on the side for the all-day encounter at McLean Park, one of the more modest of New Zealand's international venues.
Yet even if the tourists end an abysmal run of just two victories in 21 ODIs and at least avoid a clean sweep, King is acutely aware that the West Indies are becoming past masters of playing well when it doesn't really matter.
With the Test series still to come and the trio of star batsman Brian Lara, opener Devon Smith and pacer Darren Powell due to join the squad next week, team management will also be casting an eye to preparing for those longer challenges, especially as one of the team's key performers has yet to feature in the one-day tournament.
Dwayne Bravo is still not fully recovered from a left side strain sustained in the Twenty20 International against New Zealand at Eden Park almost two weeks ago. But everyone hoping to see the best of this exciting all-rounder was encouraged to see him briefly on the field in Christchurch as a substitute.
Assuming that his recuperation goes as planned, the hope is to play him purely as a batsman in the last two ODIs to ensure that at he spends some time in the middle.
TEAMS:
WEST INDIES (from) - Shivnarine Chanderpaul (captain), Chris Gayle, Daren Ganga, Runako Morton, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Wavell Hinds, Dwayne Smith, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Rawl Lewis, Ian Bradshaw, Fidel Edwards, Deighton Butler, Jerome Taylor.
NEW ZEALAND (from) - Stephen Fleming (captain), Nathan Astle, Lou Vincent, Peter Fulton, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Hamish Marshall, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Kyle Mills, Shane Bond, Michael Mason, Jeetan Patel.
