KINGSTON – Narsingh Deonarine gave West Indies a boost with two late wickets, after Marlon Samuels emphasized his batting rebirth with a fourth Test hundred in the face of a batting meltdown, which allowed New Zealand to nose ahead in the second Digicel cricket Test yesterday.
Part-time off-spinner Deonarine removed openers B.J. Watling and Martin Guptill in two overs that cost three runs, as the New Zealanders reached 59 for two in their second innings for an overall lead of 110 at the close on the second day.
This followed Samuels’ holding the Windies batting together, stroking his highest Test score of 123, as the Caribbean side was dismissed for 209 about 50 minutes after tea on the second day.
To the delight of a crowd of mainly his compatriots at Sabina Park, Samuels reached his milestone from 164 balls with the first of his four sixes, an effortless inside-out drive over the top of extra cover off Tim Southee.
To celebrate the landmark, Samuels struck consecutive sixes off the next two deliveries from Southee. He hit a lofted straight drive into the George Headley Stand and another drive over long-off into the same stand next delivery to take West Indies over the 200-run threshold.
He greeted the first ball of the next over from Doug Bracewell with a crunching pull into the Great Northern Stand to reach his highest Test score before he was the last batsman dismissed, when he was caught at deep cover from a flawed inside-out drive at a delivery from Bracewell. He batted 264 minutes, faced 169 balls, and struck 15 fours and four sixes.
West Indies captain Darren Sammy made 32, and was the only other batsman to pass 20, as New Zealand’s four-pronged fast-medium bowling attack bowled with acute discipline.
Bracewell ended with three for 46 from 15.3 overs, Trent Boult finished with three for 58 from 17 overs, Neil Wagner grabbed two for 24 from ten overs and Southee captured two for 70 from 19 overs.
The Windies fast bowling attack, unlike New Zealand’s, failed to make inroads into the opposition batting, as Watling and Guptill put on 55 for the first wicket.
Kemar Roach was unfortunate with his first ball of a second spell from the Michael Holding End, when Kieran Powell dropped Watling on three at third slip.
Deonarine, however, helped the home team end the day with a smile on their faces, when Watling was lbw for 11 moving too far inside the line to turn a delivery into the leg-side in the second-last over of the day, and Guptill was lbw for 42 playing back to a fast, full, straight delivery in the final over.
Earlier, three cheap wickets – including Chris Gayle’s – had put West Indies under pressure, as they reached 62 for three at lunch.
After the hosts resumed on 11 without loss, opener Powell and Assad Fudadin went in the first half-hour to Boult, and Gayle fell for eight to a brute of a ball from Wagner in the final hour before lunch.
Powell failed to add to his overnight ten before he edged to third slip, and Fudadin made five before he was lbw after the Black Caps reviewed South African umpire Marais Erasmus’ not out verdict.
Gayle was strangely subdued throughout the 107 minutes he spent at the crease and survived a chance on five, when wicketkeeper Kruger van Wyk and first slip fielder Ross Taylor combined to muff an edge.
The opener was kept on a tight rein by the New Zealand attack before he cuffed a short, rising delivery from Wagner, a left-arm fast-medium bowler, to backward point.
After lunch, Samuels took charge, reaching his 50 from 93 balls. Samuels remained unflappable, but there was instability at the other end with four wickets falling.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul was caught at first slip for nine off Southee; and Deonarine followed for a duck, leaving West Indies 83 for five. But Denesh Ramdin made 15 and Sammy played his usual cameo, striking six fours from just 29 balls before he was lbw to Southee playing across a full-length delivery that struck him on the boot.
The decision was confirmed, when New Zealand reviewed Australian umpire Paul Reiffel’s not-out verdict.
After tea, the West Indies’ decline continued, with the only suspense surrounding Samuels’ march to his hundred. (CMC)
