Auckland:Ramnaresh Sarwan and Dwayne Bravo were left to mount a West Indies rescue mission after their ace pair of Brian Lara and Shivarine Chanderpaul fell cheaply on the second day of the first cricket Test against New Zealand.

Sarwan and Bravo had put on 70 for the sixth wicket to have the West Indies 160 for five at lunch, still 115 runs behind New Zealand's 275.

The much awaited match-up of the two premier players in the Test, world record batsman Lara and New Zealand speedster Shane Bond lasted just one ball.

Lara, who was unavailable for the recent one-day series, tried to dominate Bond from the start but succeeded only in hooking the ball straight to reserve fielder Carl Cachopa at square leg to be out for five.

Chanderpaul stayed around for 23 balls to reach 13 before he nicked a delivery heading down leg side from James Franklin and was well caught by wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum.

After resuming the day at 51 for three, the West Indies soon found themselves at 90 for five and were lucky not to be six down when Chris Martin dropped a return catch off Sarwan when he was on 42.

Sarwan, who came to the crease just before the close of the first day, was particularly harsh on Martin, striking his shorter balls through the off and driving the straight deliveries down the ground.

He had reached 59 by lunch, including nine fours, while Bravo had hit four boundaries in his 28.

AFP