New Zealand have made fewer tours to the West Indies than to any other cricket nation.

Only three tours have been undertaken to the Caribbean, the first in 1972. The second tour was in 1985 and the third in 1996.

Even with South Africa having been out of international cricket for 30 years due to the apartheid regime in that country, New Zealand have made four tours there.

But this year's abbreviated tour offers hope that some of the memorable occurrences in the New Zealand game on each of the tours - for better or for worse, can be repeated or improved upon this time around.

The first tour in 1972 was a landmark for the New Zealand game, apart from the fact that players were in completely unknown territory. It was the culmination of one era in the New Zealand game, and the launching pad for another, ultimately, the most successful period of New Zealand cricket through the 1980s.

In the five-Test series no results were achieved, although there were some outstanding individual performances. Glenn Turner's batting feats were the most obvious from a New Zealand perspective. He scored 223 not out at Sabina Park, in response to the 214 and 100 not out scored by Lawrence Rowe on debut. Surprisingly, given modern trends two other centuries were scored in this match, by Roy Fredericks who scored 163 for the West Indies and Mark Burgess whose 101 was behind New Zealand saving the Test.

Then in the second Test at Port of Spain in Trinidad, Bevan Congdon began a sequence of scoring consistency with 166 not out and 82 in the drawn match.

Congdon backed that up in the third Test at Barbados with 124, while Brian Hastings scored 105. This was in response to the superb bowling of Bruce Taylor in taking seven for 74 as the home team were bowled out for 133. But in the second innings Gary Sobers scored 142 and Charlie Davis 183.

In the fourth Test, at the Bourda ground in Georgetown, Guyana, New Zealand replied to the West Indies declaration of 365/7 with 543/3, the sort of score all too rarely seen in New Zealand's history. The majority of the runs were scored in the 387-run opening stand between Turner (259) and Terry Jarvis (182). Not surprisingly, the game was a draw.

Alvin Kallicharan completed centuries in successive innings in the series when scoring 101 in the fifth Test in Trinidad to go with his 100 not out in the fourth, and New Zealand came closest to defeat there when scoring 162 in response to the West Indies' 368. But Sobers didn't apply the follow-on and the West Indies were all out for 194 in their second innings. Taylor was among the wickets again with five for 41, to take 27 in the series.

New Zealand needed to score 401 in just under two days, but rain ruled out a fair proportion of the fourth day and New Zealand were left to fight for the fifth draw of the series, a goal they achieved as Ken Wadsworth and Taylor held out through the final stages.

Turner finished the series with 672 runs at an average of 96.00 while Congdon was right behind him with 531 runs at 88.50. Taylor's 27 wickets were taken at a cost of 17.70.

By 1985, the New Zealanders had established themselves among the better sides in the world game, although their greatest test would be against the West Indians at home. In a four-Test series, New Zealand could claim to have done well to have lost two and drawn two Tests. Other countries were finding it difficult to do anything like that.

That tour took its toll. Captain Jeremy Coney had his arm broken while Ken Rutherford suffered a throwing to the wolves like no other as an 18-year-old launching his Test career. That he managed to come back within 12 months was one of the more impressive achievements for a batsman in the modern era. Certainly he could claim to have come back quicker than Martin Crowe, generally acknowledged as the best New Zealand batsman of the last 20 years, could achieve when he suffered a similar fate against the 1982 Australians.

There were not many batting highlights on the 1985 tour - the nature of the West Indies attack, based around bowlers like Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner and Michael Holding, ensured that.

Jeff Crowe did score a memorable 64 in the first Test at Port of Spain while Coney and Richard Hadlee managed to score 75 runs in a stay that was long enough in New Zealand's second innings to ensure the match would be drawn. Ewen Chatfield distinguished himself by joining the list of players to have taken 10 wickets in a match for New Zealand, with four for 51 in the first innings and six for 73 in the second.

In the second Test at Georgeown, Guyana, Martin Crowe went three better than Richie Richardson who scored 185 in the West Indies total of 511/6 declared. Crowe scored 188 in one of his finer innings which involved 571 minutes of batting. It was the same score he made later in the year in New Zealand's first Test win on Australian soil, scores that would only be bettered during his career by his 299 against Sri Lanka. The game itself was a tame draw.

Bridgetown, Barbados was to represent a change in New Zealand's Test fortunes on tour. Dismissed for 94 in their first innings, they were always going to struggle to save this game. Viv Richards unleashed his full power in an innings of 105 and in New Zealand's second innings, Marshall took seven for 80 and Winston Davis three for 66. Seven runs were all that the West Indies needed to score a 10-wicket win.

At Sabina Park for the fourth Test, New Zealand struggled again, failing to make the follow-on mark of 163, when dismissed for 138. They did better in the second innings, courtesy of a 210-run stand between Jeff Crowe (112) and Geoff Howarth (84) in what was to be Howarth's last Test innings.

Then six years ago, in what was a two-Test and five One-Day Internationals tour, New Zealand finally got to win their first international game in the West Indies. In the process they set up an exciting one-day series, including coming back from the dead in the never-to-be forgotten match at Georgetown, Guyana where New Zealand successfully defended 158 to beat the home side by four runs.

The tour followed the World Cup in 1996 and was clearly a troubled event with internal dissent reaching a peak. Chris Cairns and Adam Parore left the tour before its end.

It was to be coach Turner's last tour with the side as he was controversially replaced by Australian Steve Rixon between seasons.

New Zealand performed exceptionally well in the one-day series that preceded the Tests with the home side finally winning 3-2.

Jimmy Adams' slow bowling proved the undoing of the side when he took five for 17 from nine overs as New Zealand were all out in the first Test at Kensington Oval for 195.

Sherwin Campbell scored more than that when hitting 208 in the West Indies' response of 472.

Nathan Astle played the most dominant hand in New Zealand's reply, scoring his maiden Test century of 125 out of the total of 305. That was just enough to leave the West Indies needing to score 29 runs for the victory.

Adams joined the double century club in the second Test at Antigua when scoring 208 not out while Robert Samuels also reached double figures with 125 in a total of 548/7 declared.

New Zealand's middle and lower-order responded superbly, under Astle's direction as he scored 103 for successive centuries in the series. Dipak Patel scored 78 not out and New Zealand totalled 437, although Curtly Ambrose still managed five wickets for 68 runs.

In their second innings the West Indies managed only 184, 74 of them to Brian Lara. Danny Morrison took five for 61. There was never enough time to look positively at the target of 296 but they held on to gain a respectable draw with skipper Stephen Fleming, who had scored his maiden ODI century earlier in the tour, finishing on 56 not out.