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From about 3:30 p.m. yesterday, the party started inside the Beausejour Stadium.

Even by then, it was a forgone conclusion the West Indies would trounce New Zealand and take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the Cable One-Day International series in which two matches remain.

The 10,000 Mexican-waving, flag-waving, placard-waving supporters in the stands of the state-of-the-art facility were engulfed in frenzied celebrations.

This victory was as convincing as they come, the West Indies winning by seven wickets with as many as ten overs in reserve.

After their bowlers restricted the Black Caps to a relatively modest 210, Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul launched the West Indies' reply with a proliferation of scorching and exquisite boundaries that allowed the other batsmen who followed to bat under no pressure.

Ramnaresh Sarwan followed with a couple of meaty boundaries and Brian Lara, still battling with a troublesome elbow, showed a return to some of his old touch with an unbeaten 59 that earned him the Man-Of-The-Match award.

When Lara and Sarwan were in, there was a continuous cacophony of noises from one section of the ground where about 100 fans were jumping all over the place to the accompaniment of percussion instruments.

On the other side of the ground, where the Piton Party Beer Stand was located, there was music from a host of DJs that triggered violent waist movements among other unprintable stuff.

West Indies' win, their 21st in 32 matches over New Zealand in the shorter form of the game, was achieved as early as 4:40 p.m. in front of excited St Lucians who have waited 18 years for another taste of international cricket.

The team as a whole played pretty well. The bowlers did their part, the fielders supported them in the field and the batters came through, said coach Roger Harper.

In response to their target, Gayle and Chanderpaul cracked ten boundaries in an opening stand of 63 at better than a run-a-ball before the latter drove a catch to cover and the former was bowled aiming to play slightly to leg.

Their partnership was followed by another of 87 off 97 balls between Sarwan (44), who was a joy to watch when he pierced a packed off-side field with some lovely drives through the covers, and Lara, whose innings was his highest score in international matches this season.

Lara was adept at guiding the ball behind the wicket on the off-side and as he settled in, he played a few authentic strokes, including a big six over long-off off Chris Harris' trundlers that have often bemused many batsmen.

We've been playing very well as a team and my contribution was missing for a while. It is nice to get some runs, some confidence and hopefully I can carry on for the remainder of the One-Day series and the Test series, Lara said.

Whatever total we had to get, I was sure we were going to approach in the way we did yesterday (Saturday). Our guys bowled well, fielded well and we were able to restrict New Zealand to a small total.

For the third successive match, New Zealand, who have now lost eight striaght One-Dayers, found themselves trying to get out of a deep hole inside the first 20 overs after they chose to bat on winning the toss.

I can't explain. To be honest, it was a disappointing performance. A 250 score would have been handy on that wicket, but 210 just wasn't enough. Once again, we lost wickets in clumps, said captain Stephen Fleming.

The previous day, they managed to post a challenging total, but this time, they could not convert the damage of 74 for four into a potential match-winning score.

But they were able to get it up to something that they felt they could defend, principally on a fifth-wicket stand of 90 between Lou Vincent and Chris Harris.

It was by no means explosive stuff. It was not complete control, but moreso careful consolidation and they required 23 overs for their workmanlike partnership.

Vincent, a century-maker on Test debut against Australia in Perth seven months ago, batted through the last 32.4 overs of the innings for an unbeaten 60 off 85 balls after New Zealand lost the key wickets of Fleming and Craig McMillan in a brisk three-wicket slide.

Vincent found the boundary just twice, but unleashed the shot of the innings, which sailed over Corey Collymore's head and onto the sight-screen for the only six of the New Zealand effort.

The balding Harris, the only player in the New Zealand team with more than 200 One-Day appearances, used his vast experience in the shorter version of the game to compile an even 50 off 79 balls before pulling a catch to deep mid-wicket in the 43rd over.

It brought in the big-hitting Scott Styris but there was no repeat of his Saturday onslaught. He attracted a perfect leg-cutter from Corey Collymore that hit off-stump after pitching on middle.

Collymore, replacing the rested Cameron Cuffy, sent down a tidy opening spell after his fellow Barbadian Pedro Collins was roughed up in his six overs with the new ball at the opposite end from which he successfully operated the previous day.

Collymore and Meryn Dillon each took two wickets, but the most economical of the West Indies' bowlers was Chris Gayle, whose ten overs of off-spin went for 34 runs and included the wickets of Fleming and McMillan.

Fleming reached 34 before missing a defensive prod and was lbw, while McMillan skied a catch to mid-on that was well held by Collins.

The catch, taken as he ran back about 15 metres, typified the West Indies' overall effort on the day.

© The Barbados Nation