Windies lament letting supporters down

Sending a little Christmas cheer to their suffering supporters is the target of a downtrodden West Indies cricket team in Hamilton next week.

The tourists admit they were outplayed in all facets of their innings loss to New Zealand in the second Test at Wellington.

It left captain Darren Sammy with few positives to cling to heading into the final Test of the series starting in Hamilton on Thursday.

They dropped five catches, sprayed the ball badly on a helpful Basin Reserve pitch and batted without skill and fight in two sub-200 innings.

Sammy's team were thrashed in two Tests in India before narrowly escaping defeat in the first Test at Dunedin last week.

He admits the faith of their supporters in the Caribbean will be severely tested as their great era of the 1980s and 90s fades further into the distance.

"They're up late, or early in the morning, watching us. We've got to give them something to shout about.

"Christmas time is soon around the corner. It's a time to be jolly so we've got to go down Hamilton and give them a little Christmas gift."

Sammy admits the swing of 10-wicket seamer Trent Boult had his players all at sea on Friday.

The tourists' pace bowlers - including himself - had failed to exploit lively first-day conditions.

They must work hard to improve that ahead of what he suspects will be another green surface in Hamilton.

"If you look at our pitch maps we will probably be scattered all over the place," he said.

"If I look at the New Zealand bowlers, they'll be hitting that fuller, six-metre length more often than us which us where you tend to create most chances.
"The way Trent exploited the conditions is something as a bowling group we've not been able to do here."