Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Brendan Nash combined to help the West Indies recover to 154 for four at tea on the opening day of the second Test against New Zealand in Napier.

After the tourists had lost four wickets in the opening session, Chanderpaul and Nash emerged after lunch to steady the ship, adding 80 runs in the afternoon. Chanderpaul ended unbeaten on 44 while Nash had reached 34 not out by the interval.

In stark contrast to the rain-interrupted first Test in Dunedin - which ended in a draw after weather caused the final day to be abandoned - conditions were good with sunny skies and a hard pitch.

The tourists won the toss and elected to bat but New Zealand drew first blood when Iain O'Brien took the wicket of skipper Chris Gayle (34) with the score on 43.

O`Brien forced the 29-year-old onto the back foot and the ball clipped the shoulder of the bat before travelling through to wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum for a simple catch

Ramnaresh Sarwan was dismissed for 11 soon after when he got a thin edge off Jeetan Patel and McCullum was again on hand to pouch the chance.

Jesse Ryder then produced a superb diving catch to dismiss Xavier Marshall for six after the 22-year-old steered an O'Brien delivery to second slip to leave the West Indies on 63 for three.

And New Zealand further strengthened their position shortly before lunch when Sewnarine Chattergoon was out for 13 after he took a wild swipe at a Daniel Vettori ball and edged it straight to Jamie How at second slip. That brought together Chanderpaul and Nash with the score 74 for four and the duo set about rescuing the West Indies' innings.