NZ vs WI | Greaves, Hope, and Roach produce gritty displays to rescue West Indies from jaws of defeat

Venkateswaran N

ByVenkateswaran N,SportsCafe Editor

15

West Indies drew the first Test against New Zealand in Christchurch after ending the final day at 457/6. Chasing 531, Justin Greaves led a resilient batting display with an unbeaten double century, while Shai Hope and Kemar Roach also gave admirable support with a hundred and a fifty, respectively.

Justin Greaves
‌Justin Greaves played the innings of his life to save West Indies from defeat against New Zealand in the first Test in Christchurch on Saturday. Starting the day at 212/4, Greaves played out the entire day to take his side to 457/6, in a chase of 531, at the end of day five at the Hagley Oval. The all-rounder remained unbeaten on 202, hitting 19 boundaries during his marathon 388-ball knock as the visitors put on the second-highest total ever in the fourth innings by any side in a Test match. He received impressive support from Shai Hope and pacer Kemar Roach in the final essay, with the Windies batting out a whopping 163.3 overs to deny the Kiwis a win. Hope hit 15 fours and two sixes during his 234-ball 140, while Roach dug deep for his unbeaten 58 in 233 balls, also adding 180 off 410 balls with Greaves for the seventh wicket.

Earlier, the home side could make only 231 in the first innings after being put into bat, with Kane Williamson top-scoring with a patient 52, a knock that included six boundaries. The pace quartet of Roach, Jayden Seales, Greaves, and Ojay Shields all picked up two wickets each for the visitors.

However, the Windies also endured a batting collapse on the second day and were skittled out for just 167, conceding a first innings lead of 64 runs. Pacer Jacob Duffy was the pick among the hosts’ bowlers with a spell of 5/34, while fellow pacers Matt Henry and Zak Foulkes had three and two wickets to their names, respectively.

The home side then put on a mammoth total of 466/8 in their second essay, in quick time, before declaring their innings. The Kiwis were powered by contrasting centuries from Rachin Ravindra and Tom Latham, who also added 279 runs for the third wicket. Ravindra was the aggressor among the two, smashing 27 fours and a six during his 185-ball 176, while skipper Latham wore the bowling down with 145, hitting 12 boundaries during his 250-ball innings. For the visitors, veteran pacer Kemar Roach picked up his 12th five-wicket haul in Tests, ending with figures of 5/78.

However, the tall total was not enough as a gritty West Indies kept a depleted Kiwi attack, who lost Matt Henry and Nathan Smith to injuries during the game, at bay to come out with a fighting draw.

The effort

Valiant effort

Beauty

Incredible

Superb

Brilliant

Incredible

Once in a while

Easy Test

lol

laught0
astonishment0
sadness0
heart0
like0
dislike0

Comments

0/1000

Sign up or log in to your account to leave comments and reactions

0 Comments