West Indies' Ramnaresh Sarwan hits the ball against New Zealand in a Twenty/20 cricket match at Seddon Park in Hamilton, New Zealand, on Sunday, December 28, 2008. - ap

wellington, new zealand (cmc)

New Zealand coach Andy Moles wants one of his top-order batsmen to emulate Ramnaresh Sarwan's heroics from the last One-Day International, when the third match bowls off Tuesday.

Sarwan stroked a classy half-century to guide West Indies to victory in the rain-hit ODI at Christchurch. He reached the crease in the fourth over, after the fall of opener Sewnarine Chattergoon, and batted until the final over when victory was secured with a ball to spare.

"My message to the top five was they needed to take more responsibility," Moles said.

"The opposition had one player bat all the way through and it showed if you've got someone you can bat around you can set targets and chase targets."

Crucial 1-0 lead

Sarwan finished unbeaten on 67 from 65 balls and his unbroken, 48-run stand for the sixth wicket with Denesh Ramdin (28) sealed the game for West Indies and gave them a crucial 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

Black Caps' captain Daniel Vettori lauded Sarwan's efforts, noting that no batsman had stepped forward to play a similar role for the hosts.

"He took the game away from us. He played extremely well," the left-arm spinner said.

"No one in the top five really stood and took control of the game like Sarwan did."

New Zealand scored 152 for eight after the match was reduced to 28 overs per side because of rain, but watched as their batting fell away in the latter stages of the innings.

Moles said he did not want a repeat of this at the Westpac Stadium on Tuesday.

"We don't want to be more than three down after 35 overs, because with the people we've got to come, we can chase or set a formidable total," he contended.

The first match in Queenstown was abandoned after two hours because of rain.