New Zealand 278 for 9 dec (Hay 61, Conway 60, Phillip 3-70) and 57 for 1 (Conway 28*, Williamson 16*, Phillip 1-17) beat West Indies 205 (Hope 47, Tickner 4-32) and 128 (Hodge 35, Duffy 5-38, Rae 3-45) by nine wickets
Hodge and first-Test hero Justin Greaves (25) attempted to stabilising things, with Hodge unfurling crisp strokes through the covers and square leg. But in the 31st over, one of those well-struck pulls picked out substitute fielder Will Young, who held a superb rebound catch at midwicket.
At 88 for 6, with the lead still below 20, the match was effectively gone, and Duffy accelerated the finish. He trapped Greaves lbw with a full delivery that jagged in, a decision first turned down but later overturned on review. In his next over, Duffy drew Tevin Imlach into a loose drive away from his body for an edge to second slip. Rae added his third by removing Jayden Seales caught behind, before Duffy completed his five-for by going short to No. 11 Ojay Shields, who miscued a leg-side swipe to fine leg.
After the game, New Zealand captain Latham said they got “better and better” as the game progressed. “We took a little bit to get into the game, morning of day one, potentially some heavy legs. But we adjusted things and we bowled better and better in the second innings. And obviously Duffy on the back of that [five-wicket haul] and some of our substitutes coming on and getting on the board [was pleasing].
“Mitch Hay played beautifully in the first innings coming under pressure. The way he played was pretty much the way he plays for Canterbury and that’s what we asked of him. And Michael Rae picked up some really important wickets on day one, trucked into the wind all week. All those efforts do not go unnoticed. We probably weren’t where we wanted to be with the bat but we can look into that over the rest of this week.”
Chase said West Indies’ batters didn’t make the most of the conditions on offer: “Batting is a bit of a concern, after coming from the first Test, that beautiful second innings [in Christchurch]. But we came here and our batters never really capitalised. Initially we thought the pitch would be similar to Christchurch. But this pitch was a lot easier for batting. The scores didn’t reflect that. There is still one Test match left and we can still level the series. That can help motivate the guys further.”
The third Test begins on December 18 in Mount Maunganui.
