(ESPN) A greentop at the Basin Reserve that offered pace, bounce and seam movement produced an engrossing tussle over the first two sessions of the second Test last night. West Indies’ quicks, led by Shannon Gabriel in his 50th Test, made better use of winning the toss than they did in the first Test in Hamilton, but they never fully got on top of New Zealand, with a series of missed chances allowing Henry Nicholls to scrap his way to his first 50-plus score in his last 14 Test innings.
At tea, New Zealand were 170 for 4, with Nicholls batting on 57 and BJ Watling on 11.
If the first session was all about fuller lengths from the fast bowlers, the second was about the short ball, used liberally against Nicholls in particular. He never looked entirely in control against it, and survived a series of nervy moments soon after lunch against Alzari Joseph, who looked to attack the left-hander in the hip-to-shoulder region with short balls from over the wicket. There was a top-edged hook that fell in no-man’s land, a short-leg catch that didn’t stick in Shamarh Brooks’ hands, and a hooked six that could have been a catch at long leg had Jermaine Blackwood stayed on the rope rather than move some 10 yards in.
Then Gabriel and the debutant Chemar Holder, who had been the pick of West Indies’ bowlers before lunch, returned and created a rash of chances that, on another day, would have earned them more than just one wicket between them. On this day, both Gabriel – with a length ball slanted across him – and Chemar Holder – with a full one that straightened from around the wicket – found Nicholls’ outside edge only for Darren Bravo to put him down both times at first slip.
On the second occasion, he was unsighted by Jason Holder’s movement across him from second slip.
Just the over before, though, Jason Holder had thrown himself to his right in the same position to end a 70-run fourth-wicket stand between Nicholls and Will Young. In difficult batting conditions, Young had grafted his way to 43 despite never looking entirely at ease, with the West Indies quicks attacking his weakness of a short front-and-across trigger movement that left him crease-bound and in vulnerable positions both against the full ball angled into him and the rising ball in the corridor. Gabriel delivered the perfect example of the latter, laden with away seam, to finally end Young’s stay, and pick up his 150th Test wicket.
Gabriel had been erratic at the start of the day, straying too full and often too straight to concede 21 in his first two overs, but once he settled into a rhythm, he kept asking difficult questions of New Zealand’s batsmen.
Back at the top of the order following BJ Watling’s return, Tom Blundell gave West Indies a Back at the top of the order following BJ Watling’s return, Tom Blundell gave West Indies a clear challenge to bowl full at him with his method of camping deep in the crease. Having earlier tested him with an off-stump yorker, Gabriel struck in the seventh over of the morning, finding a length that brought Blundell half-forward and getting the ball to nip back off the seam and bowl him through the gate.
Tom Latham had set the platform for a big New Zealand total in Hamilton with a 184-ball 86 that was distinguished by his willingness to leave not just on line but length too. There was even more bounce available here in Wellington, and Latham left a fair few balls that whizzed six inches over the top of off stump as he moved to 27 with a fair degree of serenity, save for a blow to the elbow from a Gabriel delivery that reared from a length.
But West Indies were also more willing to try and get him to drive, even if it meant serving up the occasional half-volley. They found the perfect line and length for him in the sixth over after the drinks break, courtesy Chemar Holder. The ball was full enough to induce the drive without being full enough to feed the stroke. Then it straightened, and Latham, who was a little late getting his weight fully onto the front foot, edged behind.
That wicket brought Ross Taylor to the crease and Gabriel immediately reappeared, replacing Alzarri Joseph who’d bowled only three overs since coming on as first change. Gabriel discomfited Taylor immediately with seam movement and extra bounce, hitting him on the chest with one that straightened and squared him up. Then, in the second over of his spell, he got one to leave a leaden-footed Taylor in the corridor outside off, producing a hard-hands jab that he edged behind to give Joshua da Silva his second catch on debut.
