West Indies 209 and 135 for 4 (Samuels 52, Chanderpaul 20*) need a further 71 runs to beat New Zealand 260 and 154 (Brownlie 35, Deonarine 4-37, Narine 3-19)
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The balance shifted in favour of West Indies as they were just 71 adrift
of closing out the Test and the series with six wickets in hand going
into what could be the final day of the game. Their spinners, led by
Narsingh Deonarine set it up by bowling New Zealand out for 154, setting
a target of 206. For the second time in the match, Marlon Samuels held
the key for West Indies as his half-century gave the hosts the edge
after a shaky start. Samuels' wicket late in the day gave New Zealand an
opening, but Shivnarine Chanderpaul's presence gave West Indies a sense
of security.
Deonarine turned out to be the surprise package on the third morning as
he added two more wickets to his overnight tally to finish with 4 for
37. It was the same old story for New Zealand as their batsmen were
guilty of throwing it away and none of them seemed to have the patience
to grind it out for long periods and wear the bowlers down. The pitch
offered something for the spinners and seamers but it wasn't spiteful.
Like Kemar Roach did in the final day of the first Test in Antigua,
picking up quick wickets in a decisive passage of play, Tino Best
signalled the start of West Indies' dominance this morning with a
double-strike in one over. The pressure created by those two wickets
stalled New Zealand's resistance and from then on there was no recovery
from the visitors.
Deonarine, a part-time offspinner, comfortably outbowled the lead
spinner Sunil Narine. That Deonarine bowled a 17-over spell, giving
little away, showed the confidence Darren Sammy had in him. He wasn't
afraid to flight the ball, and the batsmen were circumspect with their
foot movement, not getting fully forward to smother the spin. Though
Deonarine deserved his wickets, New Zealand will not be too happy with
the fact that they allowed a part-timer put them under pressure for such
a sustained period.
Best removed the nightwatchman Neil Wagner with a snorter and two balls
later, Ross Taylor slashed to the keeper, mirroring his dismissal from
the first innings. Brendon McCullum was Deonarine's third victim,
offering a bat-pad catch to forward short leg. Deonarine had time to
sneak in one more before lunch, when he had Kane Williamson driving
which induced an outside edge to Sammy at slip for the second time in
the match. It was like re-running the tapes. West Indies set the trap
for the aggressive Kruger van Wyk by keeping a fielder in the deep for
the slog and he succumbed.
Doug Bracewell and Dean Brownlie resisted for a brief period after lunch
with a stand of 37. Their stand helped push the lead past 200 but they
couldn't stretch it by much to intimidate West Indies.
Chris Gayle got the chase off to a rollicking start by walking down the
track to Trent Boult in the first over and smashing him over deep extra
cover. But Boult pitched one up and held its line to trap Gayle in front
of the off stump. Gayle immediately reviewed it, but it was a desperate
call from a batsman hoping for a second chance to make amends for his
first-innings failure. Kieran Powell played across the line to Tim
Southee and was also struck in line with the stumps, leaving West Indies
at a worrying 20 for 2 in the fourth over.
Samuels restored order with some crunching drives off the front foot,
but he too flirted with danger outside the off stump. But the bowlers
could have done with better support from the fielders though. One lapse
that could prove very costly for New Zealand was the dropped catch by BJ
Watling at gully, giving Samuels a reprieve at 20 just before tea. It
also didn't help when Bracewell overran the ball at third man and
conceded a boundary, giving West Indies bonus runs.
Post tea, Samuels and Assad Fudadin settled on building a partnership.
The seamers were guilty at times by giving Fudadin scoring opportunities
by bowling at the pads. Samuels was solid with his drives down the
ground and steered the ball with ease past the slips.
There was a moment of celebration for the Jamaicans at the ground as
they watched - on the giant screen - one of their own, Shelly-Ann
Fraser-Pryce finish in pole position in the Women's 100m sprint at the
London Olympics. On resumption, the bowlers managed to keep Fudadin
quiet by bowling consistently on the channel outside off. Sure enough,
impatience got the better of him as he chopped Wagner onto his stumps,
driving away from the body.
Samuels slowed down as he approached his fifty, and he had all but
achieved his aim of remaining unbeaten till stumps. In a rare lapse of
concentration, he slashed at a Bracewell delivery outside off which he
should have left alone, and Taylor showed good reflexes at slip to send
him back. There were no further alarms for the hosts as Roach and
Chanderpaul saw off the last few overs.
West Indies ended as favourites to wrap up the game, but it could be a
different story if New Zealand's seamers can reproduce their form and
consistency from the first innings to pull off an unlikely win. However,
what could thwart either team's victory bid is the tropical storm
Ernesto, which is expected to hit Jamaica on Sunday.
Kanishkaa Balachandran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Feeds: Kanishkaa Balachandran
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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