NZ vs WI Test Series: In the second Test played in Wellington, New Zealand defeated West Indies in just three days. With this, the Kiwi team has taken a 1-0 lead in the series. Right from the opening day, the Kiwi team seemed to dominate the match and the strong performance of the bowlers won the entire game. New Zealand kept West Indies under pressure in both the innings and easily achieved the modest target in the end.

Paved the way to victory in the first innings

The decision to choose bowling after winning the toss proved to be a masterstroke for New Zealand captain Tom Latham. Kiwi bowlers troubled the West Indies batsmen from the very beginning. Blair Tickner took 4 wickets and Michael Ray took 3 wickets, due to which West Indies collapsed for 205 runs.

In reply, New Zealand batted intelligently. Brilliant half-centuries from Devon Conway (60) and Mitchell Hay (61) took the team to 278. The important lead of 73 runs gave the Kiwi team a strong hold in the match. After scoring 278 runs for 9 wickets, New Zealand declared the innings, which proved to be a great strategy in the future.

Duffy’s havoc, Windies collapsed in the second innings

In the second innings, West Indies’ hopes were that the team would make a comeback and leave a difficult target for New Zealand. However, Jacob Duffy’s lethal bowling broke all hopes. Duffy put West Indies on the backfoot by taking 5 brilliant wickets. Michael Ray also supported him again by taking 3 wickets. Due to the bowling of these two, the result was that West Indies were reduced to just 128 runs.

Kavm Hodge scored 35 runs and Brandon King and Justin Greaves scored 22 and 25 runs respectively, but these efforts could not even take the team to a respectable score. No batsman could stand against the accurate bowling of New Zealand.

It didn’t take long to chase the target

New Zealand achieved the target of 56 runs in just 10 overs. New Zealand did lose one wicket in the beginning, but after that Kane Williamson (16*) and Devon Conway (28*) finished the match without any pressure. Jacob Duffy was chosen player of the match for his brilliant bowling of 5 wickets.

The first match of the 3-match Test series New Zealand vs West Indies ended in a draw, while at one time West Indies was close to defeat. Justin Greaves scored a historic double century and saved his team from defeat. Before this, Shai Hope also played an amazing inning of 140 runs.

New Zealand and West Indies were not able to score big in the first innings, in the second innings the Kiwi team declared the innings at 466 runs. West Indies had a target of 531 runs to win, while the Caribbean team was all out for 167 runs in the first innings. The start in the second innings was also very bad, the team lost the fourth wicket for 72 runs.

John Campbell (15), Tejnarine Chanderpaul (6), Alec Athanaz and captain Roston Chase (4) were out cheaply, then Shai Hope and Justin Greaves took over the innings, making a partnership of 196 runs for the fifth wicket. Hope was out after scoring 140 runs. In this innings played in 234 balls, he hit 2 sixes and 15 fours.

Justin Greaves created history by scoring a double century

Justin Greaves faced 388 balls and scored a double century. He remained unbeaten after scoring 202 runs, he hit 19 fours in this innings. By the end of the fifth day’s play, West Indies’ score was 457 for 6 wickets and with this the match remained a draw. However, when 4 wickets fell at 72, everyone had agreed that now no one can save West Indies from defeat.

Justin Greaves has become the 7th batsman in the world to score a double century in the fourth innings in the history of Test cricket. Before him, Kyle Mayers (210*, West Indies), Gordon Garinidge (214*, West Indies), George Hadlee (223, West Indies), Nathan Astley (222, New Zealand), Sunil Gavaskar (221, India), William Edrich (219, England) have done this.

Second highest score of the fourth innings

457 runs is the second highest total in the fourth innings in Test cricket history, this is the highest total of West Indies in the last innings. England is at number one, which had scored 654 runs in the fourth innings against South Africa in 1939. Now West Indies team has come at second position, who scored 457 runs in the fourth innings.

NZ vs WI Test: New Zealand’s reliable opener Tom Latham made a spectacular comeback in the Christchurch Test and achieved a feat for which he had been waiting for almost three years. After a long wait of 1073 days, i.e. almost three years and 39 innings, Latham’s bat finally spoke. He presented an excellent example of patience and technique in the second innings against West Indies and completed the 14th Test century of his career.

The special thing about this century was that it was his first Test century against the West Indies. That means, in a single innings, Latham achieved two big achievements, ending a long drought and starting a century against a new team.

How Latham’s century was made?

The New Zealand team, which came on the field with a lead in the second innings, had a strong start. Latham and fellow opener Devon Conway gave a great start to the hosts by adding 84 runs for the first wicket. Even after Conway was out, Latham did not lose his patience. Just before the tea break on the third day, he completed his century in 179 balls. During this, he hit 9 fours and remained firmly at one end.

This innings of Latham was very important for New Zealand’s strategy, because with it the team took a strong hold on the match. His partnership with Rachin Ravindra before his century also proved to be a bonus for New Zealand.

Journey of 14 centuries

Looking at Latham’s record of total 14 Test centuries, it shows that he has been very successful in subcontinent and Asian conditions. He has scored maximum 4 centuries against Sri Lanka. He has 3 centuries each against Pakistan and Bangladesh, 2 against Zimbabwe and now 1 century each against England and West Indies.

Interestingly, he has not yet scored a Test century against big teams like India, Australia and South Africa. However, the chances have definitely been stacked against him.