The decision to play four seamers paid dividends for New Zealand as they secured a first-innings lead of 51 on a day where West Indies, barring Marlon Samuels, took their eyes off the ball
The Report by Kanishkaa Balachandran03-Aug-2012
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMarlon Samuels brought up his first century in the West Indies•DigicelCricket.com/Brooks LaTouche Photography
The decision to play four seamers paid dividends for New Zealand as they secured a first-innings lead of 51 on a day where West Indies, barring Marlon Samuels, took their eyes off the ball. A score of 260 shouldn’t have been too daunting for West Indies to overhaul, but New Zealand’s seamers bowled with discipline to bundle out the hosts for 209. Samuels played the lone had with a counterattacking 123, his first Test century in the West Indies, but New Zealand never let go of the initiative from the morning session. The openers stretched the lead past 100 but a couple of late wickets gave a deflated West Indies unit some cheer.That New Zealand silenced Chris Gayle and sent back a normally immovable Shivnarine Chanderpaul cheaply was indicative of the control they had over the West Indies batsmen. Samuels was the only batsman to pass 50 – the next highest was 32 – and the only one to stand up to the seamers, who attacked as a pack to put the hosts under pressure.Trent Boult, the left-arm seamer, bowled with discipline and stuck to the simple mantra of keeping the ball in the channel outside the off stump to silence an in-form batsman like Gayle. In Antigua, Gayle’s comeback Test, he bashed four successive boundaries in the first over of the innings to set himself up for a big hundred. Chris Martin, the unfortunate bowler on that occasion, was left out for this Test. However Boult, only four Tests old, ensured that Martin’s experience wasn’t missed. He found assistance from the breeze to slant the ball away from the left-handed openers. West Indies played out three consecutive maiden overs, and the pressure got to them in the fourth, when Kieran Powell edged Boult to Dean Brownlie at third slip. It took New Zealand 76 overs to separate the opening pair in Antigua. Here, they needed just nine.Smart stats
Marlon Samuels scored 123 out of the team total of 209. His percentage contribution of 58.85 is the fifth-highest for West Indies in a completed innings. Gordon Greenidge is on top with 63.50% during his innings of 134 out of the team total of 211 at Old Trafford in 1976.
Samuels’ strike rate of 72.78 during his century is the sixth-highest for a West Indies batsman for a 100-plus score against New Zealand. It is, however, the second-highest in home Tests against New Zealand after Chris Gayle’s 150 at North Sound.
Samuels’ century is his fourth overall and second in Tests in 2012. In five matches this year, he has scored 537 runs at an average of 89.50.
Gayle scored eight runs off 55 balls. The strike rate of 14.54 is his lowest ever for a score of five or more. The lowest ever strike rate for such a score since 1990 for West Indies is Sherwin Campbell’s 7.93 (5 off 63 balls) against Australia in 2000.
It is the third time that New Zealand have managed a first-innings lead against West Indies after scoring below 300 batting first. The last occasion was in Auckland in 2006 when they gained a lead of 18 runs and went on to win by 27 runs.
Gayle got off the mark off his eighth delivery; his second run came off his 26th, indicating the hold the seamers had over him. Boult bowled with control and was given a lengthy spell by his captain. He was rewarded with another wicket, that of Assad Fudadin lbw. The umpire turned down the appeal but Ross Taylor successfully challenged it. It capped a rewarding spell of 7-1-18-2 for Boult.Gayle was dropped on 5, but fortunately for New Zealand, it didn’t cost them anything. He was squared up by one from Neil Wagner that took off, took the top edge and lobbed to point. He was gone for a painstaking 8 off 55 balls without a boundary, adding to his mediocre Test record at his home ground.Samuels, the other Jamaican, didn’t disappoint. He looked more comfortable, dabbing Southee past gully and driving down the ground for consecutive boundaries. He wasn’t entirely convincing either, around his off stump, but strong off his pads. He wasn’t afraid to steer the ball past the packed slip cordon, keeping the ball down. He crunched Boult past mid-off to bring up his fourth half-century of the year.Having seen off Gayle, New Zealand still had Chanderpaul to deal with. He lasted just one ball in Antigua, here he lasted 40 balls for a watchful 9 before perishing to Tim Southee. Taylor made amends for dropping Gayle at slip earlier with a neat catch to get rid of Chanderpaul, and not long after, the hosts lost half their side for less than 100 when Narsingh Deonarine edged Boult.The precarious position didn’t deter West Indies from attacking, as Denesh Ramdin and Darren Sammy played brisk cameos. Sammy scooped and bashed his way to 32 off 29 balls before he fell just before tea, playing all around a toe-crusher from Southee.Samuels remained strong at the other end, elegantly driving through the covers and pulling the short deliveries in front of square. He had his nervy moments when the ball kicked up and nearly brushed his glove. Though it was a bowlers’ day, Samuels’ resistance made for a classic Test match battle. He was steadily losing partners and at one stage looked like being stranded in the 90s. It was touch-and-go when on 98, he was joined by the No.11 Tino Best.Samuels threw hell for leather with a flat six over deep extra cover off Southee to bring up his century. He came into this Test averaging 82.80 in 2012, and his innings lifted the gloom following Gayle’s failure. Samuels continued his bat-swinging against Southee, depositing three consecutive half volleys over the ropes. He hammered Doug Bracewell in the following over, but the bowler had the last laugh thanks to a sharp catch by Wagner in the deep, bringing an end to West Indies’ innings. The hosts didn’t really look like matching New Zealand’s score, but Samuels did well to minimise the damage.Martin Guptill came out to bat despite being ill, and stretched the lead with some elegant drives off the front foot off the West Indies seamers. The seamers failed to cause early alarms, so as a last throw of the dice, Sammy turned to the part-time off spin of Deonarine late in the day. It was a smart bowling change as Deonarine dismissed the openers lbw in identical fashion – both shuffled across too far and exposed the stumps. Despite the lapse, New Zealand ended the day effectively 110 for 2. It will be up to their middle order to show the same spine displayed by the seamers.