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Kyle Jamieson has built a reputation in his short test cricket career for New Zealand as a man who makes things happen.
Black Caps’ Kyle Jamieson unsuccessfully appeals for a wicket during the second day of the second series test match between New Zealand and the West Indies at Basin Reserve Source: Getty
He improved on that reputation on Saturday on the second day of Test 2, taking 5-34 as New Zealand held the West Indies 124-8 in response to his first 460 innings. Tourists need 136 to avoid continuation.
It was Jamieson’s second bag of five wickets in just five events in which he has increased his claim to the “off-road” designation with half a century and two innings of 40 or more.
Drama seems to run through everything Jamieson does in the testing arena. He took two back-to-back West Indies wickets in his opening on Saturday, a double wicket maiden, and narrowly missed a hattrick when his appeal for next-ball lbw was rejected.
The outfield referee denied the appeal, with it the hattrick, and his decision was upheld when the television official saw reruns showing the ball simply severing the stump of the leg. An lbw appeal of the following was also rejected, which could have given Jamieson the comfort of three four-ball grounds.
The tall right arm then snapped a 68-run partnership on fifth field between Jermaine Blackwood and Shamarh Brooks to reestablish the ancestry New Zealand had maintained for most of the second day.
He completed his bag of five wickets at the end of the day with wickets from West Indies Captain Jason Holder (9) and Alzarri Joseph.
Blackwood, the first manufacturer of the test century, which survived Jamieson’s hattrick, again provided the most strength among the West Indies batting lineup, but was out shortly before the stumps for 69.
Tim Southee, who started the decline of the West Indies entries with the first wickets of Kraigg Brathwaite and Darren Bravo, knocked out Blackwood and finished the day 3-29 of 16 overs.
Previously, Henry Nicholls and Neil Wagner posted their highest test scores and shared a 95-run partnership for the ninth wicket that allowed New Zealand to raise their nighttime total from 294-6 to 460.
Nicholls hit for five minutes over seven hours and was the last man out of 174, beating his previous best test of 162 against Sri Lanka. Wagner was not left out in ’66 after celebrating her fiftieth tryout with her half-century single.
The Nicholls marathon on the fold provided the thread that tied New Zealand’s innings after it missed the pitch and was sent into a green field on Friday.
New Zealand was 78-3 when Nicholls came to the wicket, with the West Indian bowlers leading the way and making good use of pace, bounce and field stitching.
He struggled for much of his innings in those tough, sometimes hostile conditions and was knocked down three times, twice in the first slip when he was 47, before finally reaching his first half-century in 14 innings.
Having gone through that test of character, he sheathed himself and passed into his first century in three years, providing the solid anchor around which the rest of New Zealand’s hitters could work.
He had associations of 70 with Will Young, 55 with BJ Watling, 83 with Daryl Mitchell and 50 with Jamieson before his most profitable association with Wagner, whose 66 undefeated included eight fours and four sixes.
“It was a pretty tough hit from Henry (Nicholls) and he obviously had to graft for long periods of time,” Wagner said. “I love hitting with Henry and I told him so out there and at the end.
“Every time I’ve hit him, it seems like I hit runs. He took some good shots, he got in and he had a pretty hard surface.”
