By Chris Barclay of NZPA

Christchurch, Jan 2 NZPA - The memories of that glorious summer afternoon are fading and the old Lancaster Park is barely recognisable these days.

However, the novel one-day match here on Waitangi Day 1980 will always be remembered as a ground-breaking episode in New Zealand's cricketing history.

Redevelopment for the 2011 rugby World Cup has stripped away the last vestiges of the venue for the remarkable one-wicket defeat of the all-conquering West Indies on New Zealand's national holiday almost 29 years ago.

The imaginatively named stands -- Numbers 1, 2 and 3 -- are no more, ensuring the venue is radically different from the stadium associated with New Zealand's first one-day cricket victory over the then world champions on February 6, 1980.

The embankment, vintage No 4 stand and rickety wooden No 5 Stand -- domain of the more lubricated, boisterous Cantabrians -- were the first to go; the Hadlee Stand was added and next year a two-tier structure will complete the ground's transformation.

Still, regardless of the configuration of the currently named AMI Stadium, its place in New Zealand's sporting folklore is assured.

In a cricketing sense that one-off one-dayer remains one of the focal points, a springboard into one of New Zealand's most famous -- and fractious -- inbound tours.

Before hosting the West Indies for a limited overs contest for the first time, New Zealand had only rarely been exposed to the Calypso Kings in the shorter format of the game -- twice at World Cups in England where they lost at the Oval in 1975 and Trent Bridge four years later.

Only a supreme optimist would have thought the reigning World Cup champions were vulnerable against the Geoff Howarth-led lineup featuring debutants Paul McEwan and John Reid.

However, as the afternoon progressed and Jeremy Coney, Warren Lees and hometown favourite Richard Hadlee launched an unlikely counter attack, history beckoned.

It duly arrived when New Zealand completed victory with only two balls remaining.

Opting to bowl first after Clive Lloyd lost the toss, New Zealand limited the West Indies to 203 for seven from their 50 overs -- a total based around opener Gordon Greenidge's 103 from 137 balls.

He struck 10 boundaries and two sixes in a dominant display.

Fellow opener Desmond Haynes contributed a patient 27 from 61 balls and was responsible for the other three boundaries struck in the entire innings.

The pair added 81 for the first wicket but once Haynes departed Greenidge lacked genuine support -- the next highest score was extras on 18.

Hadlee took two for 28 off 10 while Lance Cairns (2-37) and Gary Troup (0-30) also kept the West Indies run rate in check throughout their 10-over spells.

A reasonable victory target by today's standards, a New Zealand triumph was far from guaranteed they crashed to 80 for six and 134 for seven.

However, a valiant rearguard action from Coney, Lees and, inevitably, Hadlee brought the disbelieving crowd to fever pitch in the dying overs.

Lees cleared the fence twice when spanking 25 off 27 balls while Hadlee maintained the rage when the wicketkeeper was dismissed, stroking a half dozen boundaries in his rapid 41 from 33 balls to make the equation feasible.

Cairns was run out for one but tailender Troup survived three balls before competing the winnings runs off Michael Holding's last over.

Coney was unbeaten on 53 when the delirious crowd invaded the pitch.

The outcome was celebrated, and rightly so as it proved something of an aberration in the one-day format.

Seven days later at Carisbrook, Troup was again centre stage when he and Stephen Boock scrambled a leg bye to win the first test by the same slender margin -- but the next one-day win was years away.

The West Indies won the next nine matches, a sequence only ended at the 1992 World Cup when New Zealand won by five wickets at Eden Park on the back of Martin Crowe's unbeaten 81 and Mark Greatbatch's 63.

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