West Indies v New Zealand, 2012
Tony Cozier
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Tour and tournament reports : West Indies v New Zealand, 2012
Series/Tournaments:
New Zealand tour of United States of America and West Indies
Teams:
New Zealand
| West Indies
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At Kingston, Jamaica, August 2-5, 2012. West Indies won by five wickets. Toss: West Indies.
The sport that first created West Indies' reputation for athletic excellence was so secondary to Jamaican expectation of Olympic medals that provision was made to shift the last drinks break on the final two days to allow players and spectators to watch the women's and men's 100 metres finals on the big screen. They saw Shelly-Ann Fraser- Pryce take the women's race on the Saturday, but by the time Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake mopped up gold and silver, at 3.50pm Jamaica time on Sunday, West Indies had already completed a hard-fought victory.
That completed an emphatic, and timely, thrashing of the New Zealanders in all three formats. Following varying degrees of progress against Australia and England, this was another modest sign of a revival after 20 years in which a disillusioned public had increasingly transferred its attention to other, more successful sports, primarily athletics. It was also apt that, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of Jamaica's independence from Britain, Marlon Samuels - a Kingston boy - should have led the way, just like Bolt and friends in London. His exceptional 123, out of a first-innings 209, averted the humiliation of a double-digit total and limited the deficit to 51. Only four West Indies batsmen had been responsible for a greater share of a completed innings total than Samuels's 58.85%.
After New Zealand's second-innings meltdown to the spin of Narine and Deonarine, West Indies were left with an awkward 206 to win; Samuels's 52 steadied nerves after the early loss of the openers, and set the course for Chanderpaul, the assertive nightwatchman Roach, and Deonarine to complete the job before lunch on the fourth day.
As in Antigua, New Zealand's first innings turned into a wasted opportunity. After two early wickets rewarded Sammy's decision to bowl first with moisture in the pitch, Guptill and Taylor added 103. But Taylor's edged slash off Best began a steady decline only briefly checked by the lower order. Guptill once more top-scored, with a diligent 71 off 174 balls, but - hampered by a groin twinge - he was sixth out, beaten by Best's direct hit from cover after van Wyk unwisely called for a quick single.
New Zealand's young swing and seam quartet - at 26, Wagner, in his second Test, was the oldest - responded gamely to the burden placed on them by their batsmen. In the absence of the two leading bowlers - Daniel Vettori, out with a groin strain, and Chris Martin, dropped after a poor performance in Antigua - Boult and Wagner (both left-arm) and Bracewell and Southee (both right) seldom varied from the required line and length.
As wickets tumbled around him, Samuels moved on in his effortless way. He was 78 when Southee ended Sammy's breezy stay with a toe-crusher and, with only the tail left, it was a signal for changed tactics. Best was his sole remaining partner when he flat-drove Southee over extra cover for six to raise his first Test hundred in the Caribbean at the 31st attempt. Two more sixes followed off the next two deliveries, and another off Bracewell's first ball of the following over. Going for a fifth, he was caught on the cover boundary. Of the 47 runs added for the last three wickets, all but two came from Samuels.
Guptill and Watling (in for the injured Daniel Flynn) carefully doubled New Zealand's advantage, before Antigua's sunset syndrome returned: Deonarine, the fifth bowler, removed both with back-foot lbw dismissals in the day's final three overs. The recovery never got going next morning. Best accounted for Wagner, again the nightwatchman, and Taylor in the same over, and only Brownlie survived as long as an hour and a half. New Zealand lost their last eight wickets for 74, but West Indies still faced a target with the potential to induce panic. Gayle and Powell went cheaply again, and the outcome might have been different had Watling not spilled a straightforward catch at gully off Bracewell with Samuels on 20 and the total 56. Bracewell had to wait another 26 overs before he got his man towards the third day's close, by which point Samuels had passed 50 for the sixth time in seven Test innings.
West Indies resumed the following day with 71 more to get, six wickets in hand, and unexpectedly clear skies above - the tropical storm Ernesto, which had swept through the Windward Islands, was nowhere to be seen. Nightwatchman Roach, soon to be named Man of the Series for his bowling, all but settled matters with a calculated aggression that brought him his highest Test score. Another 23 were needed when he drove Williamson to backward point, but Chanderpaul and Deonarine comfortably saw it through, winning before lunch, and a full four and a half hours before the planned break to watch the first of Bolt's three Olympic golds.
Man of the Match: M.N. Samuels
Man of the Series: K.A.J. Roach
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