Tea West Indies 142 for 5 (Chanderpaul 30*, Ramdin 30*) v New Zealand
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
West Indies showed they could collapse regardless of the pitch, conditions or bowling. Put in on a slow surface that was nowhere close to being difficult for batting, they went from 77 for 1 to 86 for 5 in the space of 34 deliveries. On a day they could have dominated for once in the series, they consigned themselves to recovery mode. At tea, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Denesh Ramdin were doing a fine job, having added 56 for the sixth wicket.
The way the pitch played, New Zealand seemed to have made the wrong decision. The quick bowlers were hampered by the slowness, and some solid defensive batting from West Indies. Although there was swing available, there was much less bite in the pitch compared to Wellington.
Kraigg Brathwaite, playing his first Test since April 2012, helped the visitors navigate the first session for the loss of only Kieran Powell. Brathwaite and Powell survived for more than an hour without too many alarms and put on 41 before the latter departed, edging an attempted upper cut to the wicketkeeper off a Neil Wagner bouncer.
Most of the batsmen were to fall attempting strokes. It was Tim Southee who kickstarted the drama soon after lunch. Brathwaite had been tentative often but had survived through some pluck and some fortune. But when Southee dug it in short, Brathwaite's awkward style conspired to send the ball to gully.
Southee was bowling some big outswingers now, and Kirk Edwards feathered one of them behind while trying to leave it, and was given out after New Zealand reviewed.
Marlon Samuels flayed irresponsibly at his ninth delivery to edge to gully for a duck and Narsingh Deonarine missed a clip to be caught in front.
Yet again, it was down to Chanderpaul, and while he had a couple of close shaves against the legspinner Ish Sodhi, he wasn't going to throw it away easily on such a pitch. Refreshingly, even Denesh Ramdin wasn't willing to. The pair scored at a decent rate given the situation but West Indies had ceded too much advantage too soon, and there was a lot of catching up to do.
Ramdin, Chanderpaul halt collapse
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Ramdin, Chanderpaul halt collapse
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Ramdin, Chanderpaul halt collapse
