Poor personal form and a winless run have left Chase nowhere to hide
“I think I had a tough series, very below par for my standard. I didn't really lead from the front on the field. Leading, in terms of words and encouraging and inspiring the team, was all good, but in terms of going out there and producing and letting the team have someone to look up to as a leader, I let myself and the team down.”
That was the self-assessment delivered by captain Roston Chase following West Indies’ 2-0 loss in their three-match Test series against New Zealand. Chase finished the tour with a batting average of 7.0 and a high score of 29.
The 33-year-old’s criticism of his performance was preceded by that of head coach Daren Sammy, who, ahead of the 3rd Test, argued that “runs not coming from [our] number seven and five” was a potential injury trigger for bowlers. While showing appreciation to his bowlers, Sammy chided the Windies batters for not spending enough time at the crease.
Unlike Chase’s suggestion, however, his poor output predates the just-concluded series. The Barbadian has scored 221 runs across 16 innings since being drafted back into the Test side as skipper.
New Zealand 575 for 8 dec. & 306 for 2 dec. (Latham 101, Conway 100, Ravindra 46*, Hodge 2-80) beat West Indies 420 & 138 (King 67, Campbell 16, Imlach 15*, Duffy 5-42) by 323 runs
The West Indies’ three-match Test series against New Zealand ended with as much despair as it began with promise. With all ten second-innings wickets still intact, the visitors entered the day with a realistic hope of earning a draw. They were instead rolled over for 138 and subjected to a crushing 323-run defeat, handing the hosts a 2-0 series win.
They lost 5 wickets for 11 runs to be restricted to 99 for 5 at the lunch interval. The opening pair of John Campbell and Brandon King added 44 runs before variable bounce came into play on the fifth-day wicket. King continued his quick scoring from the previous day, bringing up his fifty in 63 balls. Campbell too seemed intent on blocking, as he had done late on Day 4.
They were eventually dismissed in consecutive overs. King fell to a Jacob Duffy short ball for 67 before Campbell (16) fell victim to the aggression he’d suppressed the entire innings and was caught going for a big shot off the orthodox spin of Ajaz Patel.
Cricket West Indies has confirmed that the second season of the Caribbean Premier League-sanctioned Breakout T20 League has been postponed, although there are still plans for the competition to be contested in 2026. Board Vice-President Azim Bassarath had recently announced that the competition would be contested in Trinidad and Tobago from January 24 to February 8. However, CWI now insists “the tournament cannot be staged in its originally planned window.”
With the ICC Men’s Under-19 and 2026 Men’s T20 World Cups set to be contested across the first three months of the year, CWI has pointed to an “increasingly congested international and domestic cricket calendar” as the reason for the delay.
Chief Executive Officer Chris Dehring said, “With the Under-19 Men’s and Senior Men’s teams focused on upcoming World Cups, this is an especially demanding period for our players. While the Breakout League remains part of our forward planning, it will not be staged in the same window. We will continue to look for a space for this event in 2026.”
Dehring has, however, reaffirmed CWI’s committed investment to the success of the league. “While we have not yet identified a suitable window for the Breakout League in 2026, it remains an important pillar of our domestic tournament strategy,” he said.
West Indies 420 & 43-0 (King 37*, Campbell 2*) need 419 runs to beat New Zealand 575 for 8 dec. & 306 for 2 dec. (Latham 101, Conway 100, Ravindra 46*, Hodge 2-80)
Unlike the Bazballing English, the majority of cricket teams appreciate the significance of a drawn game. So with 419 runs still to get for victory, the West Indies will enter Sunday’s final day of the Bay Oval Test, one would assume, with the aim to survive. The Caribbean side ended the day on 43 without loss after being left three and a half sessions in which to chase 462.
Through contrasting methods, openers John Campbell and Brandon King batted through 16 overs late on, ensuring the visitors got to stumps with all 10 wickets intact. King crunched seven fours on his way to 37, while the usually aggressive Campbell limited himself to defensive options, scoring just 2 from 50 balls.
Windies’ first innings lasted only an hour on Day 4, as they lost their remaining four wickets for 39 runs. They began the day on 381 for 6, still 194 runs adrift of New Zealand’s first innings total. Anderson Phillip fell to Jacob Duffy on the third delivery of the morning for 17. While Shai Hope, who recovered from food poisoning and was finally eligible to bat, lasted only 7 deliveries before he too was undone by Duffy for 4.
There was a stubborn 69-ball ninth-wicket stand between Kavem Hodge and Jayden Seales, which yielded 29 runs, before the latter was bowled by Ajaz Patel for 15. Kemar Roach was the last man to go, caught behind off Michael Rae for a duck three balls later. Hodge finished unbeaten on 123 as the visitors were dismissed for 420.
West Indies 110 without loss (King 55*, Campbell 45*) trail New Zealand 575 for 8 dec (Conway 227, Latham 137, Greaves 2-83) by 465 runs
The hosts were batting, yet there were three New Zealanders on the field.
The camera had wandered to an unfamiliar profile decked in a West Indies uniform in the deep. A hamstring strain to Kemar Roach and an illness to Shai Hope had left the visitors short of substitute fielders, forcing a local lad to fill the gap. The West Indies were outnumbered.
A parallel, really, to the almost 600-run mountain they’d have to climb and the tricky 90 minutes they would need to negotiate before stumps. Both potentially without Shai Hope, who needed to serve penalty time before batting.
But openers Brandon King (55*) and John Campbell (45*) bought them time. The pair saw the Windies through to the end of the day’s play unscathed with 110 runs on the board. While still trailing by 465 runs, the ailing Hope and Roach might now have a contest to recover in time for.
An improved display from visiting bowlers, coupled with more attacking intent from the home batters, had earlier seen the West Indies claiming seven wickets on Day 2. New Zealand, in the meantime, added 241 runs to their overnight score before declaring on a mammoth 575 for 8.
