Boult rips through clueless top order

Fast bowling fireworks from Trent Boult and Matt Henry inspired the Black Caps to victory in the third one-day international, completing a dominant series sweep.

On the back of stunning careerbest figures of 7-34 on Saturday, left-arm swing bowler Boult again caused nightmares for the West Indies. New Zealand won the raininterrupted clash by 66 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval yesterday.

Boult picked up where he left off, ripping through the Windies top order, who were again clueless trying to keep him out. He finished with 3-18 from his allotted five overs, producing absolute rippers to bowl both Chadwick Walton and Jason Mohammed with yorkers.

Henry set the tone early, getting rid of the fit-again Chris Gayle in the opening over for four as the Black Caps emphatically claimed the ODI series 3-0.

For a while, the West Indies, chasing a revised target of 166, flirted with the lowest ODI score in history (Zimbabwe’s 35 against Sri Lanka in 2004), 9-5 after 3.5 overs.

Dual spinners Mitchell Santner and Todd Astle also chipped in with four wickets as the West Indies finished 99-9 from their 23 overs.

Captain Jason Holder was the lone batsman to offer any real resistance, top-scoring with 34.

After a rain break of more than three hours, play was set to resume at 3.50pm for a reduced

33-over contest.

Just as the players were preparing to enter the field, another shower had ground staff quickly laying down the covers.

New Zealand were 83-3 from 19 overs when they left the field at

12.27pm with Ross Taylor unbeaten on 32 and stand-in skipper Tom Latham 23.

The skies finally cleared with the match resuming at 5.25pm for a

23-over affair.

The Black Caps belted 48 off their final four overs for the loss of only one wicket – Latham, who was stumped trying to accelerate the scoring, as they got through to

131-4.

Taylor and Henry Nicholls thumped Shannon Gabriel for 16 off the final over, while offspinner Ashley Nurse was also dealt to. Latham hit him for three straight fours in the first over when play restarted.

Nicholls played a handy cameo, scoring an unbeaten 18 from nine balls, while Taylor was not out on

47.

The West Indies run chase got off to a terrible start with Gayle, having recovered from a viral infection, falling for four in the first over.

Gayle slapped Henry to backward