The New Zealand No. 5 led a delightful life on his way to his first score of over 50 in 14 innings.
Tea New Zealand 170 4 (Nicholls 57 *, Watling 11 *, Gabriel 3-38) vs. West Indies
A green platform in Basin Reserve that offered pace, bounce, and stitching motion produced a passionate struggle during the first two sessions of the second test. The West Indies rapids, led by Shannon Gabriel in her 50th Test, made better use of winning the draw than the first Test in Hamilton, but never quite made it to the top of New Zealand, with a series of missed opportunities that They allowed Henry Nicholls to fight his way to his first score of over 50 in his last 14 test innings.
At tea, New Zealand was 170 of 4, with Nicholls hitting 57 and BJ Watling at 11.
If the first session had to do with the longer lengths of the fast players, the second was on the short ball, used generously against Nicholls in particular. He never looked completely in control against him, surviving a series of nervous moments shortly after lunch against Alzari Joseph, who was looking to attack the southpaw in the hip-to-shoulder region with short balls over the wicket. There was a point hook that fell into no man’s land, a short-leg hook that didn’t get into Shamarh Brooks’s hands, and a six-hook that could have been a long-leg hook if Jermaine Blackwood had stayed in the rope instead of moving about 10 yards inward.
Then Gabriel and rookie Chemar Holder, who had been a favorite of the West Indies bowlers before lunch, returned and created a series of opportunities that, another day, would have earned them more than one window between them. On this day, both Gabriel, with a long ball bent over him, and Chemar Holder, with a full one that straightened around the wicket, found the outside edge of Nicholls only for Darren Bravo to knock him down both times on the first slide.
The second time around, he didn’t see Jason Holder’s movement through him from the second slide.
However, just earlier, Jason Holder had flung himself to his right in the same position to end a 70-run drag on fourth field between Nicholls and Will Young. In tough batting conditions, Young had worked his way to 43 despite never looking entirely at ease, with the West Indies rapids attacking his weakness of a short front-and-cross trigger movement that left him tied to the fold. and in vulnerable positions both against the full ball angled toward him and the ball up in the hall. Gabriel delivered the perfect example of the latter, laden with sewing, to finally end Young’s stay and pick up his 150th trial window.
Gabriel had been erratic early in the day, drifting too far and often too direct to concede 21 in his first two overs, but once he got into a groove, he kept asking New Zealand hitters tough questions.
Back at the top of the order after BJ Watling’s return, Tom Blundell gave the West Indies a clear challenge to pounce on him with his method of camping deep in the fold. Having previously tested it with an off-stump yorker, Gabriel hit on the seventh over in the morning, finding a length that carried Blundell half forward and getting the ball to cut through the seam and throw him through the door.
Tom Latham had laid the platform for a New Zealand grand total in Hamilton with an 86 of 184 balls that was distinguished by his willingness to stop not only in line, but also in length. There were even more rebounds available here in Wellington, and Latham dropped a few balls that buzzed six inches over the top of the stump as he moved to 27 with a good degree of composure, save for a hit to the elbow from a Gabriel pitch. It rose from a length.
But the West Indies were also more willing to try to get him to lead, even if it meant serving an occasional half volley. They found the perfect line and length for him in the sixth after the break, courtesy of Chemar Holder. The ball was full enough to induce momentum without being full enough to fuel the hit. Then he straightened up, and Latham, who was a little late to put his weight fully on his front foot, moved behind.
That wicket led Ross Taylor into the fold and Gabriel reappeared immediately, replacing Alzarri Joseph, who had thrown just three overs since entering as the first change. Gabriel immediately baffled Taylor with a sewing motion and an extra bounce, hitting him in the chest with one that straightened and squared him. Then, in the second over of his spell, he got one to put Taylor on leaden feet in the hallway outside, producing a hard-handed jab that came forward to give Joshua da Silva his second catch on debut.
Karthik Krishnaswamy is a senior deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo
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