# West Indian cricket team in New Zealand in 2008–09

The West Indies cricket team toured New Zealand between 5 December 2008, and 13 January 2009. They played two Test matches, two Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) and five One Day Internationals (ODIs) against the hosts, plus a three-day match against State Championship side Auckland. This was the first series between the sides since the West Indies toured New Zealand in 2005–06; their previous meeting was in the Super 8 stage of the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

## New Zealand cricket team

The New Zealand side had just returned from the first leg of a tour to Australia where they played two Test matches against the hosts, losing both. Prior to the second test against Australia, Andy Moles was announced as the replacement for retiring New Zealand coach John Bracewell with the West Indian series to be his first in charge of the team. One of his first moves was to replace a number of support staff and insist that he and captain Daniel Vettori be "the only voices in the dressing room". He also switched the roles of batsmen Daniel Flynn and Jesse Ryder, deciding that Flynn was better suited to the number 3 position and Ryder to the number 5.
At the start of the Test series, the New Zealand team were eighth on the ICC Test Championship rankings.

## West Indian cricket team

The West Indies had recently lost all three matches of an ODI series against Pakistan. Their previous Test series was at home to Australia in May and June 2008, when they lost two Tests and drew one. At the beginning of the Test series, they were ranked seventh in the ICC Test Championship, one spot higher than New Zealand.

## Squads

The New Zealand team for the Test series was announced on 6 December while the West Indies named their side on 5 November.
Test series :
| New Zealand | West Indies |
| Daniel Vettori | Chris Gayle |
| Jamie How | Carlton Baugh, Jr. |
| Tim McIntosh | Daren Powell |
| Daniel Flynn | Jerome Taylor |
| Ross Taylor | Xavier Marshall |
| Jesse Ryder | Brendan Nash |
| Jacob Oram | Shivnarine Chanderpaul |
| Brendon McCullum | Ramnaresh Sarwan |
| James Franklin | Sewnarine Chattergoon |
| Mark Gillespie | Leon Johnson |
| Iain O'Brien | Fidel Edwards |
| Jeetan Patel | Kemar Roach |
| | Sulieman Benn |
| | Denesh Ramdin |
| | Lionel Baker |

## First leg
### Tour match

* 5–7 December Scorecard
* Match drawn Eden Park Outer Oval, Auckland, New Zealand Umpires: Barry Frost and Derek Walker
The only warm-up match for the West Indies was a three-day match against State Championship side Auckland. Having lost the toss and been put in to field on a batting-friendly pitch, the West Indian bowlers could only manage two wickets on the first day. Auckland reached 359/2 at stumps with Richard Jones leading the way on 186 not out. On day two Jones continued on to his maiden first-class double century before being dismissed for 201. The Auckland side continued batting until just before tea, declaring at 587/7 once Gareth Hopkins had brought up his century. At stumps on the second day, the West Indian team had reached 82 without losing a wicket. They batted throughout the final day, finishing on a score of 431/7. Ramnaresh Sarwan made the highest score for the West Indians, retiring out on a score of 158. Auckland captain Jones said that they had batted for so long before declaring because he felt that the West Indies weren't going to push for a result either. West Indian fast bowler Fidel Edwards said that the pitch had been "tiring to bowl on" but was a good workout for the bowlers prior to the Test series.

### Test Series
#### 1st Test

* 11–15 December Scorecard
* Match drawn University Oval, Dunedin, New Zealand Umpires: Mark Benson and Amiesh Saheba Player of the match: Jerome Taylor
* Rain prevented any play occurring on Day 2. The wet outfield delayed play on Day 3. Play was abandoned on Day 5 due to rain.
On the day prior to the start of the first Test Jacob Oram suffered a calf strain and was unable to recover with Kyle Mills being flown in to replace him. Daniel Vettori won the toss for New Zealand and decided to bat first. The new opening partnership – New Zealand's 18th in 36 Tests – had only put on ten runs before Jamie How got out. Daniel Flynn and Tim McIntosh put on a partnership of 87 until McIntosh was dismissed after lunch followed by Ross Taylor falling to an injudicious shot. Flynn became the first New Zealander to be dismissed under the experimental review system, being given out LBW for 95; when bad light stopped play early, New Zealand were 226/4. There was no action on the second day of the match with the umpires calling off play due to rain. A further session was lost on the third day while the ground was dried, with play beginning at 2:45 pm (just over 3 hours after the scheduled start). Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder began well but were both dismissed shortly after the West Indies took the new ball. After some resistance from the final batsmen, New Zealand were dismissed for 365. The West Indian opening batsmen negotiated the 14 overs remaining in the day to be 39 without loss at stumps.

#### 2nd Test

* 19–23 December Scorecard
* Match drawn McLean Park, Napier, New Zealand Umpires: Rudi Koertzen and Amiesh Saheba Player of the match: Chris Gayle

## Second leg
### Twenty20 Series
#### 1st Twenty20

* 26 December Scorecard
| New Zealand 155/7 (20 overs) | v | West Indies 155/8 (20 overs) |
| Ross Taylor 63 (50) Chris Gayle 2/16 (3 overs) | | Chris Gayle 67 (41) Daniel Vettori 3/16 (4 overs) |
* Scores level; West Indies won the Super Over Eden Park, Auckland Umpires: Billy Bowden and Tony Hill Player of the match: Chris Gayle
* New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat.
* This was the first ever cricket match with Super Over after the match ended a tie.

#### 2nd Twenty20

* 28 December Scorecard
| New Zealand 191/9 (20 overs) | v | West Indies 155/7 (20 overs) |
| Jesse Ryder 62 (41) Chris Gayle 2/27 (4 overs) | | Ramnaresh Sarwan 53 (36) Jeetan Patel 2/12 (2 overs) |
* New Zealand won by 36 runs Seddon Park, Hamilton, New Zealand Umpires: Gary Baxter and Evan Watkin Player of the match: Jesse Ryder

### ODI Series
#### 1st ODI

* 31 December Scorecard
| West Indies 129/5 (35.4 overs) | v | New Zealand |
| Ramnaresh Sarwan 38 (57) Tim Southee 2/33 (7.4 overs) | | |
* No result Queenstown Events Centre, Queenstown, New Zealand Umpires: Mark Benson and Tony Hill
* Rain stopped play after 35.4 overs of the West Indies innings.

#### 2nd ODI

* 3 January Scorecard
| New Zealand 152/8 (28 overs) | v | West Indies 158/5 (27.5 overs) |
| Jesse Ryder 32 (43) Fidel Edwards 3/26 (6 overs) | | Ramnaresh Sarwan 67* (65) Jacob Oram 1/25 (5 overs) |
* West Indies won by 5 wickets (D/L method) AMI Stadium, Christchurch, New Zealand Umpires: Gary Baxter and Mark Benson Player of the match: Ramnaresh Sarwan
* Rain stopped play for four hours after 6.5 overs of the New Zealand innings; match reduced to 28 overs each.

#### 3rd ODI

* 7 January Scorecard
| West Indies 128 (28 overs) | v | New Zealand 129/3 (20.3 overs) |
| Shivnarine Chanderpaul 45 (77) Daniel Vettori 4/20 (10 overs) | | Ross Taylor 51 (50) Daren Powell 3/25 (7 overs) |
* New Zealand won by 7 wickets Westpac Stadium, Wellington, New Zealand Umpires: Mark Benson and Tony Hill Player of the match: Daniel Vettori

#### 4th ODI

* 10 January Scorecard
| New Zealand 275/4 (50 overs) | v | West Indies 64/0 (10.3 overs) |
| Martin Guptill 122* (135) Lionel Baker 2/29 (10 overs) | | Chris Gayle 46* (37) |
* No result Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand Umpires: Mark Benson and Gary Baxter
* Rain stopped play after 10.3 overs of the West Indies innings with a revised target of 235 runs from 40 overs.
* Martin Guptill (NZ) made his ODI debut.

#### 5th ODI

* 13 January Scorecard
| West Indies 293/9 (50 overs) | v | New Zealand 211/5 (35 overs) |
| Chris Gayle 135 (129) Mark Gillespie 4/58 (10 overs) | | Ross Taylor 48* (71) Darren Powell 3/66 (10) |
* New Zealand win by 9 runs(D/L) McLean Park, Napier, New Zealand Umpires: Mark Benson and Tony Hill Player of the match: Chris Gayle
* Rain stopped play after 35 overs of New Zealand's innings.