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The West Indies continued to dominate the visiting Kiwis on their tour to the Caribbean Isles by crushing New Zealand by 9 wickets in a rain shortened first ODI in Kingston. Batting first, New Zealand meandered their way to 190-9 in 50 overs on the back of a battling 60 from wicketkeeper BJ Watling. Andre Russell celebrated his return to the side by picking up 4 wickets, while Ravi Rampaul and Sunil Narine picked up 2 apiece. The West Indies achieved their Duckworth-Lewis revised target in just 24.2 overs on the back of attacking half-centuries from the born-again Chris Gayle and Dwayne Smith.

Three wickets in his opening spell from Andre Russell left the Kiwis in a world of trouble at 33-3 in the 10th over as best batsman Martin Guptill (3), Daniel Flynn (12) and Rob Nicol (14) fell in quick succession to put the hosts firmly on top in this game.

Coming on first change, Sunil Narine quickly put the Kiwis in a bind and apart from running through his overs without conceding many runs, also picking up the wicket of Dean Brownlie (1) to inflict further woe on New Zealand.

A trio of partnerships all featuring Watling propelled New Zealand towards a semi-respectable score, with Kane Williamson (24) and Jacob Oram (32) doing their bit to help their team's cause, but failing to last long enough to make a genuine impact on the game.

In the end, New Zealand managed to scrape together 190 runs, which was never really going to be enough to challenge this quality West Indies batting line-up.

The early wicket of Lendl Simmons for naught in the third over did give the Kiwis some hope with Kyle Mills bowling a terrific opening spell, giving nothing away. Chris Gayle and Dwayne Smith saw off the dangerous early period, posting 42 runs in the mandatory powerplay, before adding another 51 in the 8 overs possible before rain interrupted proceedings.

The match was reduced to a 33-over contest and the West Indies were set a revised target of 136, leaving them needing 43 more to win from more than twice as many deliveries. The hosts knocked off the runs without much fuss with both Gayle and Smith bringing up their half-centuries in the process.

The teams stay in Kingston for the second ODI scheduled to take place on Saturday, and if the series so far is any indication, we could be in for a blowout.

Mini Scorecard:

New Zealand 190-9 (50 overs, 3.8 rpo)
BJ Watling 60 (98) A Russell 4-45
JDP Oram 32 (38) S Narine 2-26

West Indies 136-1 (24.2 overs, 5.58 rpo)
C Gayle 63* (57) K Mills 1-7
D Smith 65* (77)

West Indies win by 9 wickets (D/L method)

File Photograph Copyright: ICC World T20