Scott Styris smashed an unbeaten century then captured two quick wickets as New Zealand fought back to share the honours with the West Indies on a see-sawing opening day of the first Test in Auckland on Thursday.
Styris made 103 not out to help New Zealand recover from 69 for four before lunch to finish with a modest but respectable total of 275.
The all-rounder then picked up two wickets in the penultimate over of the day to leave the tourists reeling at 51-3, still 224 runs behind with seven wickets in hand.
"It was great to get those wickets at the end of the day to even the ledger out a little bit," Styris told New Zealand Press Association.
The West Indies had dominated the first day at Eden Park, bowling the home side out in under 70 overs on a temporary drop-in pitch that favoured the bowlers, but their late collapse left the match in the balance.
Debutant paceman Ian Bradshaw (3-73) demolished the top-order in the morning session before medium-pacer Dwayne Smith (3-71) finished off the tail after Styris and Nathan Astle had staged their comeback.
The pair added 71 runs for the fifth wicket in less than 18 overs with Astle making 51 off 57 balls, including 10 boundaries.
Styris was just as aggressive, smacking 15 fours and two sixes to chalk up his fifth Test ton off 122 deliveries before eventually running out of partners.
Styris said the New Zealanders had planned to adopt a more cautious approach but reverted back to one-day mould because of their lack of Test match practice.
"It's something that we're conscious of after the first day but I guess we'll look to rectify that in the second innings," he said.
"It perhaps wasn't normal Test cricket, but the fact we haven't played Test cricket for seven months may have something to do with it."
The West Indies, beaten in each of their last six Tests heading into the series, made a flying start to their reply when things went horribly wrong just before stumps.
Daren Ganga and Chris Gayle put on 47 in 14.3 overs for the opening wicket until Ganga departed for 20 with two and a half overs to go before stumps were drawn.
Scoreboard:
New Zealand 1st innings
H. Marshall c Edwards b Taylor 11
J. How run out 11
P. Fulton c Ganga b Bradshaw 17
S. Fleming c Ramdin b Bradshaw 14
N. Astle c Ramdin b D.R. Smith 51
S. Styris not out 103
B. McCullum b D.R. Smith 19
D. Vettori c Gayle b D.R. Smith 6
J. Franklin c sub b Gayle 14
S. Bond b Gayle 3
C. Martin c Ramdin b Bradshaw 0
Extras (b-4 lb-2 nb-12 w-8) 26
Total (all out, 69.1 overs) 275
Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-31, 3-54, 4-69, 5-140, 6-170, 7-199, 8-240, 9-261, 10-275.
Bowling: F. Edwards 15-1-76-0 (nb-3 w-1), I. Bradshaw 23.1-3-73-3 (nb-2 w-2), J. Taylor 8-2-39-1 (nb-5 w-2), D. Smith 18-2-71-3 (w-2), C. Gayle 5-0-10-2
West Indies 1st innings
C. Gayle c McCullum b Styris 25
D. Ganga c How b Martin 20
I. Bradshaw c How b Styris 0
R. Sarwan not out 3
B. Lara not out 0
Extras (lb-1 nb-2) 3
Total (for 3 wickets, 17 overs) 51
Fall of wickets: 1-47, 2-48, 3-49.
To bat: S. Chanderpaul, D. Bravo, D. Smith, D. Ramdin, F. Edwards, J. Taylor
Bowling: S. Bond 6-1-17-0 (nb-1), J. Franklin 6-2-21-0 (nb-1), C. Martin 3-0-10-1, S. Styris 2-1-2-2.
