At Tea on Day 4 of the Christchurch Test, West Indies were staring down the barrel of a massive defeat. Four sessions to bat, six wickets in hand and still requiring 424 runs to try and stitch a victory. However a couple of injuries to frontline New Zealand bowlers and herculean efforts with the bat from Justin Greaves, Shai Hope and Kemar Roach saw the visitors eke out a famous draw.
The result not only stopped West Indies’ five-match losing rut at the start of the new World Test Championship cycle but suddenly has them licking their lips to rack up a win or two, and pull off a famous series win. The visitors will be high on confidence after their efforts from Christchurch, especially against a beleaguered opposition. Kemar Roach picked up seven wickets in the game, while Jayden Seales and Ojay Shields were amongst the wickets.
The hosts have had a plethora of injury concerns to deal with. Matt Henry, Nathan Smith and Mitchell Santner were ruled out yesterday while Tom Blundell was confirmed to miss the second Test, earlier today, due to a hamstring tear. Mitchell Hay will make his debut for the side but their bowling attack is likely to wear an inexperienced look with the uncapped duo of Kristian Clarke and Michael Rae called up to the squad. Barring Blundell, the rest of their top six batters look set. Tom Latham and Rachin Ravindra scored big hundreds in Christchurch while stalwart Kane Williamson got back into the Test squad with a 50 in the first innings which will leave New Zealand with some amount of optimism.
Interestingly, New Zealand have won only 23 Tests out of 69 matches at the Basin Reserve, having lost 22 and drawn 24 games.
When: New Zealand vs West Indies, 2nd Test, December 10-14 at 11AM Local (3:30 AM IST)
Where: Basin Reserve, Wellington
What to expect: Sunny and clear skies with no chance of rain for the entire week. The captain who wins the toss will, in all likelihood, will bowl first to take advantage of the pace-friendly conditions on offer. No captain has elected to bat first at the Basin Reserve since 2010
The hosts have been plagued with injuries and at least four changes will be expected to be made. Mitchell Hay is set to come in for Tom Blundell. One, if not two of Kristian Clarke, Blair Tickner and Michael Rae could be included in the team while Glenn Phillips might miss out with Michael Bracewell pipping him for the spin-bowling all-rounder’s spot.
Probable XI: Tom Latham (c), Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Hay (wk), Michael Bracewell, Blair Tickner, Kristian Clarke/ Michael Rae, Jacob Duffy, Zak Foulkes.
The visitors were resilient to force a draw in the first Test. Their major issue could be the inclusion of Tagenarine Chanderpaul who has scored only 110 runs in six innings this year with Brandon King potentially coming in for him.
Probable XI: John Campbell, Tagenarine Chanderpaul/ Brandon King, Alick Athanaze, Shai Hope, Roston Chase (c), Tevin Imlach (wk), Justin Greaves, Ojay Shields, Johan Layne, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales
