New Zealand 232 for 4 (Guptill 97, Taylor 45) v West Indies
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Daniel Flynn pulls during his 45, West Indies v New Zealand, 1st Test, Antigua, 1st day, July 25, 2012
Daniel Flynn gave New Zealand a solid start with Martin Guptill © DigicelCricket.com/Brooks LaTouche
It turned out to be a bitter-sweet day for the tourists. Martin Guptill undid nearly three sessions of hard work with an impetuous slog that denied him a much-deserved third Test century. Though New Zealand fought hard, they will look back and rue all four dismissals because they gifted them away. West Indies, to their credit, bowled well in spells, and would have hoped for better returns had the bowlers been backed by better fielding. Sunil Narine looked his potent self late in the day to lift West Indies' spirits after they looked a touch deflated following a wicket-less morning session.
What New Zealand needed was a solid batting effort to compensate for their failures in the ODIs. At least one of the openers needed to bat through the day and Guptill had all but achieved that. He had been underachieving as a Test batsman, and hence shunned the Indian Premier League to head to Derbyshire to sharpen his skills in the longer format. He also needed to improve his Test record against better-quality attacks - his two other centuries had come against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. The standout feature was his patience at the crease and put a heavy prize tag on his wicket.
After winning the toss, New Zealand were given a solid, yet watchful start by their openers Daniel Flynn and Guptill. The ball swung, beat the bat, some landed close to the batsmen's toes…yet it wasn't enough to give the hosts a breakthrough in the morning. The New Zealand openers defied expectations by negating everything thrown at them during the opening session to set the platform for a big score. The West Indies seamers did create some opportunities with the movement on offer, but weren't consistent enough with their lengths in order to sustain that pressure. The seamers didn't pitch the ball up enough to exploit the movement and keep the slips interested; instead, the batsmen were fed with many deliveries that were comfortably left alone.
Roach tried spearing in the yorker, but both batsmen were alert in keeping those deliveries out. It took New Zealand nearly ten overs to fetch their first boundary, as Flynn crunched Darren Sammy past extra cover off a half volley. Guptill was harsh on Kemar Roach, who at times bowled from wide of the crease to direct the ball at the body and cut out the width. He faltered by bowling it too straight on the pads, and Guptill flicked to the boundary; when he was too full on the middle stump, he was driven down the ground.
Sammy brought on his ace spinner Narine as early as the 21st over, looking for the breakthrough. Guptill's straight six off Narine showed that New Zealand weren't too intimidated by that bowling change. New Zealand had handled Narine fairly well, until the shadows lengthened.
Post lunch, Guptill batted responsibly, with the intent of wearing the bowlers down by merely occupying the crease. Flynn capitalised each time Narine dug the ball short, but when he attempted another punch through the off side, the top edge found point, giving West Indies their first wicket.
Guptill looked a little circumspect when Ravi Rampaul got the ball to reverse shortly after lunch. He eased those nerves with two fluent boundaries through the off side off the same bowler when he pitched it too full. He got to his fifty with a square drive off Roach, but against Narine, he was more watchful. Narine's round the wicket line, backed up by three men around the batsman kept Guptill in check, but New Zealand didn't have to worry about him getting bogged down, with an aggressive Brendon McCullum at the other end.
McCullum played his natural game, taking on Narine by spanking a short delivery over square leg, before playing an audacious reverse sweep off the same bowler. McCullum survived a shout for an lbw off Roach that was reviewed, but the referral was cancelled as the bowler had overstepped the crease. In the same over, McCullum spooned the ball low to Narsingh Deonarine at mid-off, giving West Indies their second wicket.
Ross Taylor and Guptill got together to add 90 for the third wicket, with Taylor particularly harsh on anything wide of the off stump. He didn't look entirely at easy against Narine though. Narine got the older ball to turn and bounce and Taylor had issues trying to defend with soft hands, with fielders around waiting for the bat-pad catch. He fell to a poor shot, trying to pull Narine and tamely playing on to his stumps.
At 223 for 3, New Zealand still looked in command with Guptill one hit away from a century. The nervous 90s, though, had the better of him. He tried to repeat the shot that fetched him his only six, off the same bowler, but the top edge landed safely down mid-on's throat. Minutes seemed like hours as Guptill squatted, trying to comprehend what he had done. West Indies had suddenly found an opening, with Narine making the old ball talk. It's now up to the New Zealand lower order to start afresh.
Kanishkaa Balachandran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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