Bond and Fleming celebrate the key wicket of Lara for a golden duck

West Indies appear set for their 14th defeat in 16 Tests after collapsing from 148-0 to 246-8 after four days of the first Test in Auckland.

Resuming on 48-0 chasing 291, openers Chris Gayle and Daren Ganga took their side to within 143 of victory.

Star batsman Brian Lara was bowled first ball by Shane Bond, who felled Ramnaresh Sarwan with a bouncer, and Ganga fell five short of a century.

Bond captured 4-66 as seven wickets fell for 73 in 31 overs.

History was always against a West Indian win, with only one higher total made to win at Auckland than the 291 they are chasing, scored by the Windies side of 1968/9.

When Dwayne Bravo was lbw to Bond for 17 there were still 15 scheduled overs remaining, and an extra half hour could also have been claimed with victory in sight.

Wicketkeeper Dinesh Ramdin staved off the immediate threat of defeat with a defiant 15 from 52 balls, but with less than three overs before stumps he chose to sweep Daniel Vettori and top-edged to deep square-leg.

Bad light took the players off two overs before the scheduled close and the match will resume on the final day with the final two West Indian wickets needing to somehow find 45 more runs.

New Zealand's front line bowlers initially found it difficult to capture wickets when play began at lunchtime following overnight rain.

Part-timer Nathan Astle had Gayle caught at slip off his second ball in the session before tea, then had Ganga caught by Jamie How after the break.

Ganga's dismissal sparked a collapse with West Indies losing four wickets for 10 runs in 5.4 overs.

Bond struck Ramnaresh Sarwan on the helmet, forcing the vice-captain to retire hurt on four, then had Dwayne Smith caught by Fleming for nought, prompting Sarwan to return.

The right hander, however, failed to add to his score and was well caught by Scott Styris at second slip off Bond before the fast bowler trapped Dwayne Bravo in front for 17.

Bond could have also had Ramdin caught for just one and with it probably ending West Indies' realistic chances of winning the match, only for Chris Martin to drop an easy catch at midwicket.

Ramdin, however eventually self-destructed, falling into a leg-side trap when he holed out to James Franklin in the deep.

Vettori believes New Zealand can wrap up the first Test on day five after Bond's performance.

"We would be disappointed to lose from here. We obviously know the game's in our favour," he said.

"They still have a chance to win it, so we can't say that the game is ours, but we took the game away from them as opposed to them losing it."