DUNEDIN, New Zealand (CMC):

CHRIS GAYLE, wielding his uncomplicated offspin bowling, gave some edge to a less than menacing West Indies attack, as Daniel Flynn and Jesse Ryder held firm for New Zealand in the opening Test yesterday.

The West Indies captain collected three wickets for 42 runs from 20 overs, as New Zealand, choosing to bat, reached 226 for four in their first innings before bad light stopped play 16.4 overs early on the opening day.

There was little help for the West Indies' fast bowlers either through the air, or off a hard, true University Oval pitch, and the visitors had to rely on Gayle to make things happen, as Flynn hit a Test career best 95 and fellow left-hander Ryder helped himself to an unbeaten 54.

Cursing side's luck

After he reaped most of the rewards, Gayle himself might have been cursing his side's decision to leave beanpole left-arm spin bowler Sulieman Benn out of the final XI, and let fast bowler Lionel Baker become the first Test player from Montserrat.

It was Gayle who provided the breakthroughs for the West Indies at crucial junctures, after New Zealand comfortably reached 88 for one at lunch.

Gayle removed Tim McIntosh for 34 and Ross Taylor for 15 in the first hour after the interval, but Ryder joined Flynn, and they capitalised on some loose bowling from the visitors to add 61 for the fourth wicket before the visiting captain needed a little help to scalp his third wicket from the International Cricket Council's (ICC) experiment that allows fielding captains to request the video umpire review decisions if an appeal has been turned down.

Gayle had struck his first blow about 20 minutes after lunch, following a second-wicket stand of 87 between McIntosh and Flynn.

He had McIntosh caught at mid-on, when the tall left-handed opener, playing in his debut Test, tried to clear the long-on boundary and Baker held a fine catch running backwards.

Unfortunately for Gayle, there was little support for him from the other end from his rotation of the fast bowlers and he had to return for a second spell to snare Taylor about 40 minutes later, when the batsman heaved at a delivery outside the off-stump and skied a catch to mid-wicket.

The West Indies failed to make further headway and New Zealand reached 180 for three at tea with Flynn having passed 50 for the first time in eight Tests, when he turned his 77th delivery - from Gayle - into the fine leg region for a single.

Just before the break, though, the West Indies came close to removing Flynn, when the left-hander, on 90, edged Baker just short of Gayle at slip.

The visitors looked to be wilting, as Flynn inched closer to the coveted three-figure mark, and Ryder started to blossom with some rasping strokes through the off-side.

Gayle, however, slowed down New Zealand, when he had Flynn adjudged lbw played defensively forward to what appeared to be a 'drifter'.

The West Indies part-time slow bowler used the first of his side's three challenges, and it was vindicated after Indian umpire Amish Saheba - standing in his first Test - had originally given Flynn the benefit of the doubt.

Television replays

The television replays available to video umpire Rudi Koertzen indicated that Gayle's delivery had pitched outside off stump but struck Flynn in line with the stumps and the height was never going to be an issue. There was obvious delight for Gayle, in particular, and his teammates, and Flynn, promoted to three in a shake-up of the New Zealand batting order following their shambolic performance in the preceding Test series against Australia, had to settle for bettering his previous Test best of 49 with an innings that included a dozen boundaries from 188 balls in close to four hours.

The West Indies continued to feel the pinch in the final period as Ryder pulled his 87th ball - from Baker - through mid-wicket for the last of his seven boundaries to reach his 50, and was busy looking to consolidate with Brendon McCullum before the weather intervened.

The West Indies are looking for their first Test victory - let alone Test series win - for 12 years in New Zealand. The Test is the first of two with the second scheduled to start in Napier on December 19.