Lunch New Zealand 373 (Raval 84, de Grandhomme 58, Gabriel 4-119, Roach 3-58) and 96 for 2 (Williamson 51*) lead West Indies 221 (Brathwaite 66, Dowrich 35, Boult 4-73) by 248 runs
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A lively Kane Williamson half-century drove New Zealand’s progress on the third morning, after Trent Boult had ended West Indies’ first innings with a double-strike. For the second time in the series, the visitors were left with an exceedingly difficult route back into the match: West Indies trail by 248, with eight New Zealand wickets yet to be taken.
While Williamson’s Test record in 2017 has been very good, he has been uncharacteristically short of international runs in recent weeks, which makes this half-century a particularly valuable one. He scored on both sides of the wicket, as usual, but favoured the square boundaries, largely due to West Indies’ propensity to bowl short at him.
Having arrived at 11 for 1, Williamson introduced a measure of stability that had been missing from the brief opening partnership – leaving the ball judiciously and defending with assurance. He batted out 26 balls before the expansive strokes began to appear. His two first boundaries were made possible by fielding errors at point and deep square leg, but Williamson appeared to have warmed to his work by that stage anyway. The last 33 balls he faced before lunch yielded 42 runs; his fifty was brought up via a leg glance to the fine leg boundary immediately after he had socked Shannon Gabriel past mid-off.
It is not that West Indies bowled badly in the session – just that they had already ceded so much ground in the first innings that they needed to spark a New Zealand collapse in order to reimpose themselves in the match. Gabriel was quick – touching 150kph at times – and accurate, Miguel Cummins was steady, and Raymon Riefer intelligent. But on a pitch that had lost a bit of its sting, no bowler was consistently menacing.
Cummins and Riefer dismissed the openers – Cummins holding on to a sharp return catch from Jeet Raval, whose run-scoring options had been cut off, and Riefer prompting a loss of concentration from Tom Latham, who allowed a straight ball to pin him in front of the stumps. Williamson’s positivity ensured New Zealand’s wobble would not turn into a slide, however.
Earlier in the day, Boult ensured West Indies added no more than six runs to their overnight total, as he bowled Cummins and Gabriel off successive, seaming deliveries. His figures – the best of the first innings – were 4 for 73.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo