An unbeaten 85-run stand between Brendon McCullum and Luke Ronchi laid the foundation for New Zealand's 81-run win over the West Indies in their opening Twenty20 International today.
The New Zealand batting was backed up by tight bowling, led by Nathan McCullum who celebrated his 50th Twenty20 international with figures of four for 24.
New Zealand, who elected to bat first, appeared in trouble at 105-3 after 13 overs before McCullum and Ronchi lifted them to 189-5 which proved too big a target for the West Indies.
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The tourists were five for 64 after 11 overs in their reply before staggering through to be eight for 108 at the finish.
Brendon McCullum had gone in to bat in the fourth over when the removal of Martin Guptill started a mini-collapse of the New Zealand top order.
Guptill gave New Zealand a flying start with a six and two fours off consecutive balls from Tino Best's first over, but was gone for 25 when he gave a soft catch to Johnson Charles in Best's second over.
He was the first of three New Zealand batsmen to reach the 20s but failed to carry on before McCullum and Ronchi gave the innings some backbone.
