Middle-order batsmen Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Brendan Nash declared satisfaction late yesterday at dragging the West Indies out of deep trouble against New Zealand in the deciding second Test.

Chanderpaul played another masterful innings - for his 20th Test century - to guide the West Indies as he ended the opening day on 100 not out at McLean Park.

He and rookie Nash had battled defiantly in a 163-run fifth wicket that revived the Caribbean side from a wobbly 74 for four at lunch.

"I'm happy to reach my 20th Test century and, as always, I will just keep on going," said Chanderpaul, who had made 76 from 200 balls in the drawn first Test at Dunedin.

Nash, in his debut series, was also pleased that he contributed to the recovery.

"I'm happy I was able to get a good score and help the team," Nash told reporters after he gathered a courageous 74 in a breakthrough innings - just his second at Test match level.

The pair of left-handers blossomed on a sunny afternoon in a vital partnership that helped the West Indies close the day on 258 for six.

Chanderpaul's knock moved him to fourth on the West Indies all-time century-makers list behind legends Brian Lara (34), Sir Garfield Sobers (26) and Sir Viv Richards (24).

He climbed ahead of Clive Lloyd and Gordon Greenidge, who both scored 19 centuries, but while delighted with his display, said he has more work to do.

"It was pretty tough and I knew they (New Zealand) would not make it easy for us. I knew I had to work hard and stick around to see what could happen.

"Tomorrow (today) we have to try and get as many as we can. We have to try to get to 300 and look towards 350 and maybe 400," said the 34-year-old Chanderpaul.

"It's a pretty good wicket, but the New Zealand bowlers have been very patient. Nash played a beautiful innings. Playing in just his second game, he understood what was required and came out and played his natural game and we managed to get out of a tough position," added Chanderpaul, who earlier this year won the Sir Garfield Sobers award after being named International Cricket Council's International Cricketer of the Year.

Nash, who was watched by his wife and his parents, said batting with Chanderpaul gave him confidence.

"They (New Zealand) bowled really well to me, they tied me down but Shiv gave me a lot of confidence from the non-striker's end when I watched him play. He seemed to know how and when to put the pressure back on the bowlers and hit a few boundaries to take the pressure off us as a partnership and that helped a lot," Nash said.

But the 31-year-old Australian-born Jamaican was not entirely happy with his innings. He is a bit downhearted that he was unable to push his valuable innings further.

"I was, however, disappointed when I got out. It was the wrong time to time to get out for the team and, obviously, I was close to a personal milestone. All in all, not a bad position to be in looking back at the trouble we were in just before lunch," Nash said.