MOUNT MAUNGANUI, New Zealand (CMC) — West Indies’ hopes of ending a disappointing tour strongly appeared in doubt as heavy rain seemed poised to disrupt the final Twenty20 International here Wednesday.

Weather officials expect a deep subtropical low to dump up to 100 millimetres of rain on the Tauranga region of North Island between Thursday and Friday, with conditions forecast to deteriorate as early as Wednesday night.

The bad weather is coming out of a system that moved off the Queensland coast and intensified as it crossed the northern Tasman Sea.

West Indies take on the Black Caps at Bay Oval in a match carded to begin at 7 pm (2 am Eastern Caribbean time).

While the Met Service has described the weather as “fairly significant” and have indicated that the match is at a greater risk than the second one which was washed out New Year’s Day after only nine overs, Bay Oval Cricket Trust general manager Kelvin Jones said he was hoping for the best.

“Good old New Zealand weather – you never know,” he said. “You just never know – we are optimistic.”

With flooding also expected, local officials were also already checking storm-water grates at 60 vulnerable locations around Tauranga, to mitigate against the threat.

In addition, 36 beach and dune stormwater outlets were also being checked, while teams were already being organised to respond in cases of emergency.

West Indies have yet to win a single match on tour, losing both Tests and all three One-Day Internationals.

They lost the opening T20 in Nelson by 47 runs.