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Lunch West Indies 62 for 3 (Samuels 30*, Chanderpaul 8*) trail New Zealand 260 by 198 runs
New Zealand's batsmen failed to inspire on the opening day, but their bowlers finally showed some spine and claimed ownership of the first session with some incisive seam bowling that brought Chis Gayle to his knees. Trent Boult bowled with discipline and stuck to the simple mantra of keeping the ball on the channel outside the off stump to silence an in-form batsman like Gayle. The constant probing, backed by the three remaining seamers, resulted in three wickets for 51 runs in the session, and for a change, the hosts were made to sweat.
In Antigua, Gayle's comeback Test, he bashed four successive boundaries in the first over of the innings to set himself up for a big hundred. Chris Martin, the unfortunate bowler on that occasion, was left out for this Test. However Boult, only four Tests old, ensured that Martin's experience wasn't missed. He found assistance from the breeze to slant the ball away from the left-handed openers. West Indies played out three consecutive maiden overs, and the pressure got to them in the fourth, when Kieran Powell edged Boult to Dean Brownlie at third slip. It took New Zealand 76 overs to separate the opening pair in Antigua. Here, they needed just nine.
An unusually subdued Gayle found no respite even at the other end as the right-armers Tim Southee and Doug Bracewell did well to maintain the pressure, cutting out the boundary balls. Gayle got off the mark off his eighth delivery; his second run came off his 26th, indicating the control the seamers had over him.
West Indies had lost their first wicket without adding to their overnight score. Their first runs, a boundary, came in unconvincing fashion as an outside edge by Assad Fudadin sneaked past the slips. New Zealand attacked Fudadin, keeping a backward short leg, sending a signal that Boult was going to pitch it short. However, Boult kept it fuller, swung it in and trapped him on the pads as he tried to whip it away. The umpire turned down the appeal but Ross Taylor successfully challenged it. It capped a rewarding spell of 7-1-18-2 for Boult.
Not for the first time in this series, Gayle had a life. He poked at Southee and offered a straightforward chance behind the wicket, but Kruger van Wyk didn't budge. It was the wicketkeeper's catch and as a result, Taylor reacted late and couldn't pluck it with his right hand. Gayle had a similar reprieve in Antigua when on 36 - he went on to score 154. Here he was let off on 5 and it remained to be seen how much it would cost New Zealand.
Not much, though. He still looked a walking wicket each time the seamers probed his off stump. However, he was squared up by one from Neil Wagner that really took off, took the top edge and lobbed to point. He was gone for a painstaking 8 off 55 balls without a boundary and much to New Zealand's relief the drop cost them just three runs.
Marlon Samuels looked more comfortable, dabbing Southee past gully and driving down the ground for consecutive boundaries. He wasn't entirely convincing either around his off stump, but strong off his pads. Shivnarine Chanderpaul had a close call when a leading edge just cleared the bowler Wagner, just before lunch. The pitch had flattened out after lunch on the opening day, making batting easier. West Indies would hope for the same today.
New Zealand's batsmen failed to inspire on the opening day, but their bowlers finally showed some spine and claimed ownership of the first session with some incisive seam bowling that brought Chis Gayle to his knees. Trent Boult bowled with discipline and stuck to the simple mantra of keeping the ball on the channel outside the off stump to silence an in-form batsman like Gayle. The constant probing, backed by the three remaining seamers, resulted in three wickets for 51 runs in the session, and for a change, the hosts were made to sweat.
In Antigua, Gayle's comeback Test, he bashed four successive boundaries in the first over of the innings to set himself up for a big hundred. Chris Martin, the unfortunate bowler on that occasion, was left out for this Test. However Boult, only four Tests old, ensured that Martin's experience wasn't missed. He found assistance from the breeze to slant the ball away from the left-handed openers. West Indies played out three consecutive maiden overs, and the pressure got to them in the fourth, when Kieran Powell edged Boult to Dean Brownlie at third slip. It took New Zealand 76 overs to separate the opening pair in Antigua. Here, they needed just nine.
An unusually subdued Gayle found no respite even at the other end as the right-armers Tim Southee and Doug Bracewell did well to maintain the pressure, cutting out the boundary balls. Gayle got off the mark off his eighth delivery; his second run came off his 26th, indicating the control the seamers had over him.
West Indies had lost their first wicket without adding to their overnight score. Their first runs, a boundary, came in unconvincing fashion as an outside edge by Assad Fudadin sneaked past the slips. New Zealand attacked Fudadin, keeping a backward short leg, sending a signal that Boult was going to pitch it short. However, Boult kept it fuller, swung it in and trapped him on the pads as he tried to whip it away. The umpire turned down the appeal but Ross Taylor successfully challenged it. It capped a rewarding spell of 7-1-18-2 for Boult.
Not for the first time in this series, Gayle had a life. He poked at Southee and offered a straightforward chance behind the wicket, but Kruger van Wyk didn't budge. It was the wicketkeeper's catch and as a result, Taylor reacted late and couldn't pluck it with his right hand. Gayle had a similar reprieve in Antigua when on 36 - he went on to score 154. Here he was let off on 5 and it remained to be seen how much it would cost New Zealand.
Not much, though. He still looked a walking wicket each time the seamers probed his off stump. However, he was squared up by one from Neil Wagner that really took off, took the top edge and lobbed to point. He was gone for a painstaking 8 off 55 balls without a boundary and much to New Zealand's relief the drop cost them just three runs.
Marlon Samuels looked more comfortable, dabbing Southee past gully and driving down the ground for consecutive boundaries. He wasn't entirely convincing either around his off stump, but strong off his pads. Shivnarine Chanderpaul had a close call when a leading edge just cleared the bowler Wagner, just before lunch. The pitch had flattened out after lunch on the opening day, making batting easier. West Indies would hope for the same today.