Astle was in sprightly form

Opener Nathan Astle hit 90 off 106 balls as New Zealand beat West Indies by 81 runs in the first one-day international in Wellington.

Astle put on 134 for the opening wicket with Jamie How (66) and captain Stephen Fleming weighed in with 55 as the hosts posted 288-9 after winning the toss.

After two early wickets, Daren Ganga (54) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (56) shared a third-wicket stand of 78 in reply.

But they then lost seven wickets for 89 in 20 overs to be bowled out for 207.

The West Indies' poor one-day record stretched to 14 losses from their last 16 games as their pursuit foundered in the face of a tidy bowling display.

They were all out in the 48th over with spinners Daniel Vettori and Jeetan Patel snapping up two wickets each.

Fleming did not hesitate to bat when he won the toss on a hot day with a dry track and the rewards were immediate as Astle and How cut and drove their way to rapid half-centuries.

However from 234-2, the rest of the New Zealand batting collapsed with only Scott Styris able to reach double figures.

But the West Indies chase started poorly when danger man Chris Gayle slapped a weak back-foot shot off Shane Bond to Vettori on six

Runako Morton was bowled first ball by James Franklin to have the visitors at 14-2.

Ganga and Sarwan steadied things before the former was caught off Styris and the latter Sarwan miscued an attempted sweep.

Dwayne Smith swiped 38 off 25 balls with the pressure already off.

Fleming's pre-match plea for a "gentleman's agreement" to scrap super-subs for the series was rejected by match referee Mike Proctor.

Proctor sought guidance from the International Cricket Council over the experimental super-sub rule, which will be abandoned on 21 March.