Daniel Vettori has criticised the super-over eliminator format after New Zealand lost the Boxing Day Twenty20 encounter.

\The New Zealand captain was smashed for 25 runs by West Indies counterpart Chris Gayle as the format was employed for the first time in the sport after the teams had finished their respective 20 overs level on 155 runs.

Gayle`s onslaught included three sixes and a four while New Zealand in reply could only manage 15 for two from their super over to lose by 10 runs in Auckland.

The two sides also tied a Twenty20 match at the same venue in 2006 with New Zealand eventually winning courtesy of a bowl-off where bowlers attempted to hit the unguarded stumps.

Neither method has impressed Vettori, who was New Zealand's best bowler with three for 16 before his one-off over to Gayle.

"I think a tie's a tie. What's wrong with a tie? I have no issues with it," he said.

"I understand the appeal of it. I suppose if you're sitting on the other side of a win you might enjoy it.

"The game`s called Twenty20. It`s not called one1. We don`t want to dilute it too much."

Gayle has been in tremendous form in New Zealand and looked to be steering his side to a comfortable victory after taking 30 runs off Tim Southee`s first two overs and reaching his half-century with his fifth boundary in the 13th over.

But his dismissal for 67 off just 41 balls two overs later sparked a collapse by the visitors and they eventually finished on 155 for eight in reply to New Zealand's 155 for seven after Sulieman Benn sneaked a four and a single off Southee`s last two deliveries.

"Chris Gayle`s a fantastic player and if you miss a little bit to him then he can really hurt you," Vettori added.

"I was pleased with the way we fought back. Chris Gayle looked like he'd taken the game away from us but we fought back in the middle stages. In the end we probably should have won it."

The two sides meet at Seddon Park in Hamilton tomorrow in the final Twenty20 match before the one-day series begins in Queenstown on New Year's Eve.