Shiv, Nash work well together
Shivnarine Chanderpaul played another masterful innings to guide the West Indies as he ended the opening day of the second Test on 100 not out against New Zealand at McLean Park, Napier.
The Windies hero found an ally in Brendan Nash who made a courageous 74 in a breakthrough innings – just his second at Test match level. The pair of left-handers blossomed on a sunny afternoon to add 163 for the fifth wicket as the West Indies closed the day on 258-6.
It was Chanderpaul’s 20th Test century – and moved him to fourth on the West Indies all-time century-makers list behind legends Brian Lara (34), Sir Garfield Sobers (26) and Sir Viv Richards (24). Chanderpaul was delighted with his display, but said he has more work to do.
"It was pretty tough and I knew they [New Zealand] would not make it easy for us. I knew I had to work hard and stick around to see what could happen. I’m happy to reach my 20th Test century and as always I will just keep on going", said Chanderpaul, who made 76 from 200 balls in the drawn first Test at Dunedin.
"Tomorrow [Saturday] we have to try and get as many as we can. We have to try to get to 300 and look towards 350 and maybe 400."
"It’s a pretty good wicket, but the New Zealand bowlers have been very patient. Nash played a beautiful innings. Playing in just his second game, he understood what was required and came out and played his natural game and we managed to get out of a tough position," added Chanderpaul, who earlier this year won the Sir Garfield Sobers award after being named International Cricket Council’s International Cricketer of the Year.
Nash, who was watched by his wife and his parents, said batting with Chanderpaul gave him confidence.
"They [New Zealand] bowled really well to me, they tied me down but Shiv gave me a lot of confidence from the non-striker’s end when I watched him play. He seemed to know how and when to put the pressure back on the bowlers and hit a few boundaries to take the pressure off us as a partnership and that helped a lot."
He added: "I’m happy I was able to get a good score and help the team. I was however disappointed when I got out. It was the wrong time to time to get out for the team and obviously I was close to a personal milestone. All in all not a bad position to be in looking back at the trouble we were in just before lunch."