Tea New Zealand 373 (Raval 84, de Grandhomme 58, Gabriel 4-119, Roach 3-58) and 190 for 5 (Taylor 56*, Williamson 54, de Grandhomme 12*, Cummins 3-45) lead West Indies 221 (Brathwaite 66, Dowrich 35, Boult 4-73) by 342 runs
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Miguel Cummins’ hostile spell yielded two wickets and put some pep in the West Indies bowling effort, but New Zealand ploughed ahead through an unbeaten Ross Taylor fifty. At team, their lead had swelled to 342, with five wickets still in hand.
Opening the bowling from one end after lunch, Cummins picked up a wicket with the first delivery of his spell for the second time in the day – Jeet Raval having been caught and bowled in the morning. This time, a searing yorker gave him the wicket of Kane Williamson, who was too slow on a ball that was speared in from well outside the off stump.
It was the bouncer that characterised the remainder of Cummins’ spell, however. Henry Nicholls nicked off one that was angled across his body. Later, Mitchell Santner was made to hop and weave around the crease. On one occasion, Cummins got him to glove the ball, only for wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich to fail to grasp the high chance, reprieving Santner on 4. On another occasion, Santner ducked into a waist-high delivery, and was struck flush on the helmet.
At the other end, Taylor had batted with a little more assurance, but he was not immune to making mistakes either. Not long after the chance off Santner had gone down, Taylor edged Shannon Gabriel to Shai Hope at gully, who put down a low catch. Cummins had also forced a top edge off Taylor, which flew over the wicketkeeper.
In the second half of the session, however, his progress was less eventful. The innings was largely a result of accumulation – 30 off his 56 runs coming from singles, and a further 10 from twos. He reached his 29th career fifty off the 119th delivery he faced.
Roston Chase claimed his first wicket of the match when Mitchell Santner came down the track and skied a ball towards long-on, but with Colin de Grandhomme at the crease, and Tom Blundell yet to bat, New Zealand had some firepower left. A lead of over 400 seemed likely.
Earlier in the day, it had been Williamson’s lively half-century that drove New Zealand forward, after Trent Boult had made short work of the last two West Indies wickets.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo