Auckland: A devastating three-wicket spell by Shane Bond put New Zealand on the brink of an unlikely Test victory as the West Indies squandered a 148-run opening partnership at Auckland on Sunday.
At the close of play, they had been reduced to 246 for eight, still needing a further 45 runs from tailenders and with the new ball available when play resumes on Monday.
West Indies openers Chris Gayle and Daren Ganga appeared to have set their side up for the first overseas Test win in more than two years as they played the good balls cautiously and punished anything loose to notch up half-centuries.
New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming dropped Gayle when he was on 58 and Ganga was caught on 42 off a no-ball from Chris Martin.
But the pair saw off the cream of the bowling and cruised to within 131 runs of the 291-run target, forcing Fleming to turn to part-time bowler Nathan Astle.
Astle's first ball was dispatched to the boundary, but with the second he had Gayle caught by Fleming for 82 to start the batting collapse.
Bond came back and hit Ramnaresh Sarwan on the helmet, forcing him from the field. He followed immediately by bowling Brian Lara first ball to complete a disastrous welcome to New Zealand for the master batsman.
In the first innings, Bond had Lara caught first ball.
After rain had wiped out the first session of play, the West Indies went to tea on 160 for two and still hoping they could win the Test on the fourth day.
But two hours later and two overs before the scheduled close, they were thankful to be offered the light Captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul reached 15 before he failed to get a blistering cover drive off Daniel Vettori over the outstretched arm of the two-metre-plus Peter Fulton.
Ganga played his way to 95 before being deceived by an Astle inswinger and edging to Jamie How in the gully.
With the West Indies on 211 for four, Bond returned with a spell of reverse swing bowling that saw the dismissals of Dwayne Smith, a revived Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo in successive overs to reduce the West Indies to 221 for seven.
He finished the day with figures of four for 66, while the miserly Astle had two for 10 off 13 overs.
With the light fading and stumps approaching, the West Indies' last batsman of note, Denesh Ramdin, inexplicably tried to lash out at Vettori and succeeded only in sweeping the ball into the safe hands of James Franklin.
Jerome Taylor was left to play out the last two balls of the day with Ian Bradshaw, while Fidel Edwards is the only batsmen left in the pavilion.
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