New Zealand 189 for 9 (Chapman 80, Santner 34*, Motie 5-47) beat West Indies 188 (Jangoo 51, Motie 41, Fisher 3-40, Santner 2-36) by one wicket

After being in the contest for much of their bowling innings, West Indies eventually paid the price for not having enough runs to defend on a two-paced surface, as the visitors clinched a thriller by one wicket to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.

With three runs needed, West Indies had the opportunity to deliver the knockout blow when Jayden Seales foxed Santner with a superb slower-delivery. Early into a check drive, Santner only managed to lob it over extra cover. Ackeen Auguste – running back from inside the ring – and Justin Greaves – coming in from the sweeper cover boundary – collided and put down the chance.

In the following over, bowled by left-arm wrist spinner Vitel Lawes, there was some more drama. A close appeal for lbw off Santner was turned down; replays confirmed he was struck marginally outside the off-stump. Off the next ball, the first of the 45th, with the field in to save the single, Santner’s miscued lofted hit off Seales over cover sealed victory.

This was the inflexion point, where Chapman decided he’d had enough. And he flicked the switch to suddenly go from sedate to counter-attacking. West Indies could’ve dismissed him on 22, but for Motie putting down a tough chance at midwicket.

Soon after, he brought out the flat-batted pulls and some ferocious sweeps – all part of his tactic to put pressure right back on the bowlers. He put on 65 in quick time with Michael Bracewell to change the complexion of the run chase that had bordered on the nervy until then.

It needed a sensational effort from Sherfane Rutherford at the deep backward square leg boundary to send back Chapman, at which point the needle slightly turned. West Indies conceded just seven runs in the next 22 balls following Chapman’s dismissal to tighten the screws when a rain break took the players off for a little over 30 minutes.

When they returned, West Indies had Bracewell first ball to Gudakesh Motie, leaving New Zealand 149 for 6. With 40 still to get, this was now anybody’s game. By then, Motie was particularly proving to be menacing with his robotic left-arm quick deliveries that turned viciously as he ran through the lower order, having Jacob Duffy and Matthew Fisher clean bowled to take a five-for.

Despite wickets tumbling, Santner looked unflappable. With 18 needed, he muscled a slog sweep for six off Motie. He would go on to hit every single run scored off the bat from there on to complete a sensational performance, that also included 2 for 36 off his 10 overs.

Earlier in the morning, West Indies had hoped to dedicate a series-levelling win to Sobers, and Shai Hope, their captain, had impressed upon them the need to show pluck over flamboyance. What unravelled quickly wouldn’t have pleased him, including the yorker from Fisher that flattened his off-stump to give him his first ODI wicket. This left the hosts at 58 for 3.

Auguste, who took 19 deliveries to get off the mark, became Santner’s second wicket soon after and West Indies were on a freefall. With the innings in danger of folding, Amir Jangoo and Gudakesh Motie dug deep and stitched together a superb 81-run stand to give West Indies some hope. And they made a mighty good fist of it in the end, only to rue not batting out the overs that may have given them the extra runs needed to seal a series-levelling win.