NAPIER (New Zealand), March 1: An uncharacteristically restrained century from opener Lou Vincent guided New Zealand to a comfortable 91-run victory over the West Indies in their One-day International on Wednesday.

The home side racked up a formidable 324-6 batting first but the West Indies could only manage 233-8 in their 50 overs, sealing the visitors’ fourth straight defeat with one to play in the five match series.

An undefeated 110 from Runako Morton was the highlight of the West Indies innings but it meant little to his team, which never got close to the required run rate.

Morton brought up his century in the 45th over off 142 balls, hitting seven fours while Kyle Mills was the best New Zealand bowler, taking 3-45 from his 10 overs.

Despite their unassailable lead in the series, New Zealand didn’t ease off the pressure with Vincent hitting a disciplined 102 and sharing a 156-run second wicket partnership with in-form Nathan Astle.

Vincent played an anchoring role through most of his innings, eventually amassing 10 fours and a six in his 117 ball knock. He was ably supported by Astle, following up his undefeated 118 at the weekend with 81.

After a sedate start in which Stephen Fleming and Vincent scored 36 runs off the first 10 overs, the skipper launched an extraordinary attack against the bowling of Ian Bradshaw and Deighton Butler to get New Zealand underway.

After taking more than 10 overs to reach 10, Fleming (67) had to face only another 10 balls to reach his half century.

His assault started with four boundaries off Bradshaw’s sixth over. Butler’s erratic first over started with three short balls wide of the off stump, all of which were struck by Fleming over the point boundary for six.

Another boundary off a short and wide ball from a rattled Bradshaw in the next over saw Fleming reach his 50 off 36 balls.

The erratic West Indies attack — with the exception of speedster Fidel Edwards (0-23) and grafting off-spinner Chris Gayle (3-50) — was not helped by an ideal batting pitch, some poor fielding and two missed run-outs in the early overs.

The mad scramble for runs in the final stages saw five New Zealand wickets fall for 55 runs in the last eight overs.

The West Indies were always struggling to get into themselves into contention in their innings.

Ramnaresh Sarwan (42) and Morton put on 69 for the fourth wicket and Morton combined with Chanderpaul put on another 79 for the fifth wicket but the visitors never got close enough to the required run rate.

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND:

L. Vincent c Ganga b Gayle 102

S.P. Fleming c Ramdin b Smith 67

N.J. Astle c Ganga b Gayle 81

R.L. Taylor run out 15

S.B. Styris c Smith b Gayle 5

B.B. McCullum c Sarwan b Bradshaw 21

P.G. Fulton not out 13

H.J.H. Marshall not out 2

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-2, W-13, NB-1) 18

TOTAL (for six wkts, 50 overs) 324

FALL OF WKTS: 1-106, 2-262, 3-274, 4-284, 5-290, 6-317.

DID NOT BAT: D.L. Vettori, K.D. Mills, S.E. Bond.

BOWLING: Bradshaw 10-0-74-1 (1w); Edwards 10-4-23-0; Butler 6-0-57-0 (1nb, 2w); Gayle 10-0-50-3 ; Smith 9-0-73-1 (5w); Hinds 3-0-23-0 (2w); Sarwan 2-0-20-0.

WEST INDIES:

C.H. Gayle lbw b Mills 5

D. Ganga c Mills b Styris 15

R.S. Morton not out 110

D. Ramdin c Styris b Mills 10

R.R. Sarwan run out 42

S. Chanderpaul c Patel b Mills 30

D.R. Smith c Styris b Vettori 1

W.W. Hinds st McCullum b Astle 0

D.J.J. Bravo c McCullum b Bond 3

I.D.R. Bradshaw not out 1

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-12, NB-1) 16

TOTAL (for eight wkts, 50 overs) 233

FALL OF WKTS: 1-8, 2-46, 3-64, 4-133, 5-212, 6-214, 7-221, 8-229.

DID NOT BAT: D.C. Butler.

BOWLING: Mills 10-1-45-3 (4w); Bond 10-1-43-1 (1nb, 2w); Styris 9-1-53-1 (2w); Patel 10-0-54-0; Vettori 10-0-32–1; Astle 1-0-3-1.

RESULT: New Zealand won by 91 runs.

UMPIRES: B.F. Bowden (New Zealand) and R.E. Koertzen (South Africa).

TV UMPIRE: E.A. Watkin (New Zealand).

MATCH REFEREE: M.J. Procter (South Africa).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Lou Vincent.

FINAL MATCH: At Auckland on Saturday.

—Agencies