Lara's frustration was obvious following his dismissal

West Indies looked poised for another Test defeat after a rain-curtailed third day in the second Test against New Zealand in Wellington.

Although the hosts subsided quickly from 335-7 to 372 all out, it still gave them a very healthy lead of 180.

Young pacemen Fidel Edwards (5-65) and Daren Powell (4-83) both did well.

And West Indies made a decent start to their reply by reaching 54-0 before slumping to 118-4 at stumps, with Lara managing only a single.

Lara played a poor stroke as he was caught at cover from a Nathan Astle half volley and now has scores of 5, 0, 1 and 1 in the series.

Chris Martin made the initial breakthrough for the Kiwis when he tempted Daren Ganga (23) into playing at a wide ball and keeper Brendon McCullum made no mistake.

We thought if we could get it to reverse swing it would cause problems Fidel Edwards More close of play reaction

Runako Morton was caught at slip off James Franklin for seven soon after lunch, but the real body blow for West Indies came when Chris Gayle, who had hit 10 fours, was lbw for 68 after attempting to sweep spinner Daniel Vettori.

"Obviously getting out Brian and Chris Gayle was crucial.

"They're two huge players for them and have done well for a number of years, so we felt pretty good after that," said Vettori.

Only three more runs were added following Gayle's exit before Shivnarine Chanderpaul (13) and Dwayne Bravo (two) accepted an offer of bad light early in the final session and no further play was possible.

There was a scare for the home side when Fleming hurt his wrist when dropping Chanderpaul on five, but x-rays later revealed no serious damage.

Earlier in the day, West Indies managed to wrap up the New Zealand tail in the space of 16 and a half overs.