Fleming pulls New Zealand round after mini-collapse

New Zealand 257-6 v West Indies

Stephen Fleming's diligent 130, his fourth Test hundred and an innings as vital to his team as any in his 70 Tests, led New Zealand from the uncertainty of 117 for 5 to 257 for 6 on the opening day of the first Test against the West Indies yesterday.

The left-handed captain entered after an hour when the opener Lou Vincent provided Merv Dillon with his 100th Test wicket and occupied the next four hours, 35 minutes before he top-edged a cut to slip off Carl Hooper 40 minutes from stumps.

He guided New Zealand through a difficult period between lunch and tea when they lost four wickets for 29 runs against disciplined West Indies fast bowling and found a dogged partner in the wicket-keeper Robbie Hart with whom he shared a partnership of 108.

The West Indies found a pitch not as favourable as Hooper reckoned it might be after he won the toss and chose to bowl. But their bowling was as ragged in the first and final sessions as it was controlled in the second. They held a definite advantage when Adam Sanford plucked out left-handed opener Mark Richardson's off-stump, removing him for 41, and Chris Harris, Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan fell in quick succession.

But Fleming was still there to take charge. He survived an uncanny piece of luck at 11 when a ball from Sanford deflected from his pad into his off-stump without removing the bail but batted with increasing certainty and fluency. He offered no chance before his last.

Hart, the replacement for the retired Adam Parore and in only his second Test, knuckled down and did not hit a boundary in his unbeaten 34 at close, compiled in just over three hours.

First day; West Indies won toss

NEW ZEALAND ­ First Innings

M H Richardson b Sanford 41

L Vincent c Jacobs b Dillon 14

*S P Fleming c Gayle b Hooper 130

C Z Harris c Lara b Collins 0

N J Astle c Lara b Dillon 2

C D McMillan lbw b Sanford 6

ÝR G Hart not out 34

D L Vettori 21

Extras (lb5 nb4) 9

Total (for 6, 90 overs) 257

Fall: 1-38, 2-88, 3-89, 4-106, 5-11, 6-225.

To bat: D R Tuffey, S E Bond, I G Butler.

Bowling: Dillon 23-5-66-2 (nb2); Collins 17-4-65-1 (nb2); Powell 14-5-33-0; Sanford 21-6-65-2; Hooper 8-3-13-1, Gayle 7-1-10-0.

WEST INDIES: C H Gayle, W W Hinds, B C Lara, R R Sarwan; S Chanderpaul, *C L Hooper, ÝR D Jacobs, M Dillon; P T Collins, A Sanford, D B Powell.

Umpires: R E Koertzen and S Venkataraghavan.

* The Sri Lanka bowler Muttiah Muralitharan has been ruled out of the forthcoming NatWest Series against England and India. He will fly home to receive treatment following the partial dislocation and tendon damage to his left shoulder.