West Indies on the ropes, need 41 runs to make New Zealand bat again
West Indies 205 & 32-2 (King 15*, Campbell 14, Rae 1-4) trail New Zealand 278 (Hay 61, Conway 60, Phillip 3-70) by 41 runs
As Day 2 of the Wellington Test drew to a close, one could not help but wonder how possible a third day would have been had the teams gotten closer to delivering the scheduled 90 overs in a day. However, on a day without rain interruptions, only 75.4 overs were bowled. It’s incredible to think that after two days, this Test isn’t as advanced as it could have been.
At their second time at bat, the West Indies needed to erase a 73-run deficit before setting New Zealand a target. However, before that could happen, their openers needed to survive 40 minutes until the close of play. While Brandon King (15*) aced the assignment, John Campbell (14) decided to leave one from Michael Rae that would only go on to clip his off-stump.
Cue Plan B, which was to ensure Kavem Hodge was batting on Day 3. While Hodge (3*) will return to the crease with King, the West Indies lost the wicket of nightwatchman Anderson Phillip, out LBW on review to Jacob Duffy for a duck. They ended the day on 32 for 2, still 41 runs away from the hosts batting again.
New Zealand, who earlier began the day on 24 without loss, added 12 runs before captain Tom Latham (11) lost his off-stump to Kemar Roach. Roach landed one outside off, only for the ball to seam back past the left-hander’s inside edge and crash into the wicket.
Devon Conway and Kane Williamson stitched together 67 useful runs for the next wicket. Their efforts were aided by a dropped catch, as King floored the chance presented to him by Conway at leg-slip with the partnership 10 runs old.
The Caribbean side did, however, manage to prise the wicket of Williamson for 37 courtesy of a peach from Phillip just before lunch. This was almost the opposite of the Latham dismissal, with the ball pitching on middle, seaming away to square Williamson up, before getting to its final destination—the off-stump. Phillip was the most effective bowler for the West Indies, finishing with 3 for 70.
The visitors removed Rachin Ravindra (5) and the set Conway (60) in consecutive overs immediately following the break. New Zealand were 4 down with 117 on the board. This brought debutant wicket-keeper Mitchell Hay and Daryl Mitchell (25) together. The pair fashioned New Zealand’s highest partnership (73) of the innings. Hay seemed at home in International cricket, marshalling New Zealand to a lead on his way to a top-score of 61.
The injured seamer Blair Tickner was unable to bat, so the Kiwis were effectively bowled out for 278, with much help from a lower-order that contributed four 20-plus partnerships to help New Zealand build a 73-run first-innings advantage.