West Indies v New Zealand - First Test

Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica

West Indies: CC Hunte, DL Haynes, RB Kanhai, IVA Richards, CH Lloyd, *GStA Sobers, +PJL Dujon, MD Marshall, MA Holding, CA Walsh, AL Valentine.
New Zealand: GM Turner, BA Edgar, AH Jones, MD Crowe, MP Donnelly, *JR Reid, RJ Hadlee, +KJ Wadsworth, AR MacGibbon, RO Collinge, SL Boock.

Debuts: AH Jones & AR MacGibbon (NZL)
Umpires: VK Ramaswamy (IND) & DR Shepherd (ENG)
Toss: West Indies

New Zealand had little to lose going into their first ever Test in the Caribbean, and when Garry Sobers won the toss and elected to bat on what promised to be a batsman's track, the tourists seemed set for some serious leather chasing under a cloudless Jamaican sky. There was just the hint of moisture in the pitch though, and when the debutant MacGibbon bowled Haynes for 18 with the fifth ball of his first over, West Indies had been reduced to 37-3 and New Zealand were suddenly in the game. Richards and Lloyd counter-attacked with typical gusto, but Lloyd gave MacGibbon his second wicket when he drove to Reid in the covers, and then the lower half of the innings crumbled in dramatic fashion as Stephen Boock ran riot. Boock tends to take his wickets in clutches, and a succession of poorly judged strokes gifted the left-armer the third best analysis in New Zealand's ATG history, behind his own eight and seven wicket hauls gathered against England.

West Indies' complacent approach had seen them bowled out for 201 inside a day, but at 135-5 on the second morning New Zealand looked like throwing away their advantage. Donnelly and Hadlee rallied the innings in attacking fashion though, and with support from MacGibbon (31), Hadlee was able to push the score on towards 300 before Walsh cleaned up the tail with the new ball after tea on day two. Hadlee remained unbeaten on 80 out of New Zealand's 286, and although this was probably a below par score on what was by now a blameless pitch, it still gave the Blackcaps a very handy lead of 85 on first innings.

However, just as has happened so often in the past, a promising position proceeded to slip through Kiwi fingers over the course of the next two days as the true nature of the pitch was finally revealed by the West Indian batsmen. Hunte and Haynes kicked things off with an opening stand of 88 on the second evening, and the third day belonged to Rohan Kanhai as the game cantered away from New Zealand. Had Wadsworth held onto a difficult chance in front of first slip when Kanhai had scored just 3 then things could have been very different, but Kanhai survived and proceeded to punish the tourists to the fullest extent as the runs piled up.

Kanhai took part in five consecutive fifty-plus stands, and passed 1000 career runs as he stroked his way to a fine double century. His final score of 225 was West Indies' joint fifth highest innings in their history, and matched Viv Richards' effort on the same ground against Australia during the dramatic 6 run win back in Season II. Sobers eventually declared on the fourth afternoon with the scoreboard reading 518-6, and New Zealand now had the task of chasing a record 434 for victory or batting out four and a half sessions for the draw. It soon became clear that escaping with the draw was going to be the one and only target for the tourists, and scores in the forties from Edgar, Jones and Crowe gave the innings a solid enough start. No-one was able to push on though, and with Marshall and Walsh at their probing best, wickets fell regularly as the Kiwi resistance was gradually whittled away.

A couple of stoppages for rain on the final day briefly threatened to come to the Blackcaps' rescue, but with a possible 23 overs remaining Walsh induced an edge from last man Boock and it was all over, New Zealand's final total of 271 giving West Indies a comfortable 162 run victory. Hadlee was again left unbeaten, this time on 38, but Marshall and Walsh had been able to extract lift and movement from a pitch that wore rapidly on the final day, and after holding the early advantage, New Zealand had been soundly beaten by a West Indies team that really clicked into gear in the second half of the game.

Scores
WI 1st Inns 201 (Richards 82, Lloyd 46; Boock 6-28)
NZL 1st Inns 286 (Hadlee 80*, Donnelly 68, Edgar 42; Walsh 4-45)
WI 2nd Inns 518-6 dec. (Kanhai 225, Haynes 68, Hunte 51, Dujon 50*, Sobers 45)
NZL 2nd Inns 271 (Edgar 45, Jones 42, Crowe 40; Marshall 5-63, Walsh 4-51)

WEST INDIES WON BY 162 RUNS


Man of the Match: RB Kanhai