NAPIER, New Zealand (AP)

Iain O'Brien claimed two wickets as New Zealand made a strong start to the second cricket Test against the West Indies today (last night Jamaica time), sending the tourists to lunch on the first day at 74 for four.

O'Brien removed Chris Gayle for 36 with his first ball of the day and Xavier Marshall for six, giving New Zealand the upper hand after the West Indies had won the toss and batted.

Off-spinner Jeetan Patel dismissed Ramnaresh Sarwan for 11 and left-armer Daniel Vettori removed Sewnarine Chattergoon for 13, validating New Zealand's decision to go into the match with two specialist spinners.

At lunch, Shivnarine Chanderpaul was not out seven and Australian-born all-rounder Brendan Nash had yet to score.

The West Indies initially made good progress on a sound batting pitch, reaching 43 before O'Brien achieved the first breakthrough for New Zealand by dismissing Gayle. Wickets then fell with regularity - at 54, 73 and 74 - to leave the tourists in a perilous position by the first interval.

O'Brien started the decline of the West Indies innings, causing his first delivery to seam sharply away from Gayle and take the edge as he attempted to withdraw his bat, the ball carrying to Brendon McCullum behind the stumps. Gayle had been batting fluently and had hit five boundaries among his 36 runs.

McCullum then caught Sarwan off Patel's bowling as the veteran West Indies batsman, out of form in the test series so far, played back and attempted to cut but managed only to thinly edge the ball to the keeper.

Two superb slip catches contributed to the West Indies' decline. Jesse Ryder took an outstanding diving catch at third slip to remove Marshall from O'Brien's bowling while Jamie How held a searing catch to dismiss Chattergoon who had batted almost two hours for his 13 runs.