Published: Jun 27, 2014, 03:11 AM (IST)
Edited: Jun 27, 2014, 09:49 PM (IST)
By R Vishal
Jun 27, 2014
West Indies ended then first day’s play 261 runs adrift of New Zealand’s 293. Openers Chris Gayle and Kraigg Brathwaite got them off to a good start towards the final overs. Sulieman Benn‘s five wicket wicket haul and Kemar Roach ran through the top order of New Zealand to give West Indies the slight advantage at the tail end of Day One. New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat on a sporting wicket in Barbados and the Kiwis were in a hot pursuit for quick runs. Runs came at around four and half runs per over and even though there were plenty of good starts from Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor early on , they couldn’t build on it in the post lunch session.
Kemar Roach took wickets at regular intervals to rock the top order and and Sulieman Benn ran through the middle order with quick strikes.
There was very little application at the crease from some of the Black Caps batsmen. Taylor, though was dismissed by a stunning one-handed diving catch by Benn at gully. Then Jimmy Neesham took charge with some sparking shots all around the wicket and put the bowling attack to the sword.
Neesham was severe on the leg side and with the company of the impressive Mark Craig down the order, stitched the New Zealand innings together. The batsmen crossed the 50 run partnership mark and looked unruffled. Just then, a needless single brought an end to Neesham pursuit of his third Test hundred. Trent Boult didn’t hang around and went after the bowling and but was Benn’s last wicket when he tried to heave the bowler out of the park. West Indies had laid a platform to dismiss New Zealand for a much cheaper score but it was Craig’s stubborn resistance yet again that took the score close to the 300 mark. There was time for a Gayle show too and he played some cracking shots. Gayle took a liking to Criag’s off-spin and struck three boundaries off his over towards the end of the day’s play.
Brief scores:
New Zealand 293 (Ross Taylor 45, Jimmy Neesham 78, Mark Craig 46*; Sulieman Benn 5 for 93, Kemar Roach 4 for 61) lead West Indies 32 for no loss (Chris Gayle 18*, Kraigg Brathwaite 11) by 261 runs.
