West Indies have been here before. Craning their necks to view the mountain of runs put in front of them by an opposition. But like they’ve shown once before in the series, they showed the ability to not be unnerved by it. After New Zealand went as far as 575 for 8 before declaring, West Indies openers John Campbell and Brandon King gave nothing away, pushing the visitors to 110 for 0 at Stumps and setting up a fascinating future for this fixture.
New Zealand attacked the day with an impending double century for Conway. After a sapping opening day, West Indies were further dented in the absence of lead pacer Kemar Roach, who was laid low by a hamstring strain. However, as is the wont of this format and the flipping fortunes within it, West Indies put up a far better show with the ball on Day 2 to chip away. They snuffed out nightwatch Jacob Duffy early but Conway soon got to his milestone through back to back boundaries off Jayden Seales – all in the first hour of the morning. On the other side of the drinks break, Conway and Kane Williamson took New Zealand past 400. A 69-run stand ensued, giving Roston Chase a sense of deja vu. But he made quick bowling changes and found an opening. Justin Greaves got one ball to swing away from Williamson which got the batter to drive away from his body and nick it behind to Tevin Imlach.
In the second session, Greaves got a ball to nip in from round the stumps to end Conway’s epic knock on 227 by trapping him leg before. Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell fell shortly after, raising West Indies’ hopes of wrapping up the innings soon. But then came two quick alliances stitched by Rachin Ravindra – first worth 61 off 85 with Glenn Phillips and then worth 39 with Ajaz Patel. In the end, Ravindra finished unbeaten on 72 with Phillips (29) and Ajaz (30) making considerable contributions.
New Zealand threw their bats around for 10 overs in the final session before Latham opted to declare on the mammoth total they got. West Indies openers then showed they could attempt to stand toe-to-toe with their New Zealand counterparts on a pitch that was still excellent for batting. Both the batters made a flourishing start, driving and cutting their way to early boundaries. New Zealand’s pace troika of Jacob Duffy, Michael Rae and Zak Foulkes erred after the ninth over as the West Indies pair picked up at least one boundary in a six-over period from there on. It was the period that emboldened King and Campbell to keep going, with the former getting to a 63-ball fifty before Stumps. Duffy brought a close to the day with a length ball that nipped away from Campbell and invoked appeals, but the West Indies opening pair remained unbroken.
West Indies got quick runs along the way, with 110 in 23 overs to show they’re ready to bat long again. How they keep up on Day 3 will determine the direction this Test takes.
Brief scores: New Zealand 575/8 decl. (Devon Conway 227, Tom Latham 137, Rachin Ravindra 72; Justin Greaves 2-83) lead West Indies 110/0 (Brandon King 55*, John Campbell 45*) by 465 runs
