West Indies block all the criticism to complete a marvelous achievement

ICC World Test Championship

Approximately 2500 kms away from Brisbane, in "The Land of Long White Cloud" there was a Test match building up to show us the lovely paradox of the game. A stubborn West Indies defied their opponents New Zealand for more than 5 sessions to close out one of the most memorable draws at the Hagley Oval, Christchurch. In the shadow of the highly viewed Ashes and the India-South Africa ODI series, many of us missed a chance to watch the old-school, boring but high-skilled defensive marathon from a team which has hugely missed their mark in red-ball cricket of late. West Indies' Justin Greaves, Shai Hope and tail-ender Kemar Roach fought against all odds and pleasantly surprised all the cricket fans who gave this side close to zero chance of surviving 164 overs where about 8 of the 11 players were playing the first time in New Zealand.

                                        Justin Greaves scored his maiden double century on Day 5 at the Hagley Oval

Fast bowlers make merry on the first two days

West Indies won the toss and opted to bowl in overcast conditions with no sun in sight for the first two days of the match. During recent times, New Zealand's drop-in pitches have a certain tendency to get better for batting from Day 3 where they start to flatten out and this pitch also had a similar nature with the wicket offering close to nothing on Day 5. The pace bowlers on both sides made merry as they took 19 of the 20 wickets falling in the first two innings for an aggregate of 398 runs. West Indies had a couple of inexperienced fast bowlers with the likes of debutant Ojay Shields and Johann Layne playing his second match. They were boosted by the recall of their most experienced 37-year old Kemar Roach as both Shamar and Alzarri Joseph were ruled out due to injuries. New Zealand were also missing their regular fast bowlers as a result of which Zakary Foulkes and Jacob Duffy were playing their second Test match. Both sides loaded themselves with four fast bowlers and a spin-bowling all-rounder.

West Indies struck in the first over with Devon Conway going for a duck after playing a poor poke outside off but the inexperience of their fast bowlers was on show in their first spell. Debutant Ojay Shields bowled Kane Williamson off a beauty only to overstep. But the bowling line-up managed to re-group quickly to bundle out the hosts for 231 with Kane Williamson scoring a 52 on his red-ball return after a year. Opener Tagneraine Chanderpaul and Shai Hope managed to dig in and score fighting half centuries but the rest of the batting line-up folded easily to give their opponents a lead of 64 runs. From 100-2, Windies batters slipped to 167 runs as Jacob Duffy took his maiden Test fifer.

New Zealand pile on runs in the second innings

With the sun starting to shine bright on the third day and the pitch getting easier to bat on captain Tom Latham, the highest scorer at Hagley Oval scored his 14th career Test ton managing to tire the Windies bowlers with his dogged defense and Rachin Ravindra piled on a 176 at a SR of 95 playing his role of the aggressor to perfection. New Zealand ended Day 3 at 417/4 putting the team firmly on top. The Kiwis were already missing Tom Blundell who suffered a hamstring injury in the first innings and Nathan Smith also complained of a side problem thus reducing their batting strength to 9 batters. Kemar Roach created chances on the morning of Day 4 to complete his twelfth fifer leaving his side a target of 531 with five and a half sessions to play. A historical fight back was on the cards which no one saw coming.

                                                Ojay Shields made his debut in the first Test at Christchurch

West Indies reminds us the beauty of dead-bat cricket

The one thing that stands out in test cricket which is totally different from any other sport is the possibility of not having a winner even after throwing punches at each other for five whole days. Time and again we have some boring draws which questions this possibility but suddenly there is one such affair conveying the beauty of a draw egging us all to root for a neutral result where both teams don't deserve to lose this game.

Justin Greaves' historical unbeaten double hundred partnered with Shai Hope's 140 and Kemar Roach's marathon resistance laid the foundation of a result unimaginable at the start of the fourth innings. West Indies are facing a dearth of quality domestic talent which is why they are forced to give their players a longer run in the playing XI rather than chopping and changing easily. The starting XI West Indies played in Christchurch had a unique look. All the 11 batters had a career batting average less than 30.

New Zealand were already struggling with the absence of Nathan Smith who had not taken the field after bowling 15 overs in the first innings. They were further hit by Matt Henry leaving the field for getting scans done on his calf in the third session of Day 4 after bowling 11 overs in the second innings. With only two fast bowlers plus spinners Michael Bracewell and Rachin Ravindra on a pitch turned flat it was going to be an uphill task to bowl more than 110 overs. But after having the opposition at 72-4, anyone would have fancied their chances of a standard Kiwi win against a batting line-up familiar of collapses. This same team had averaged 14.13 in a series at home just two series ago against Australia even getting all out for 27 in the last innings at Jamaica. A meltdown which triggered a emergency meeting of their past greats to carry out a long-term review to improve their domestic and international standards.

There's been just 3 Tests since that forgettable day on the field and their batters have already put up two memorable fourth innings in consecutive Tests. Yes the pitches offered in both the games were relatively very easy to bat on but to do such a rescue act in two vastly different conditions away from home warrants a strong recognition and ample applause from the cricketing fraternity. To get India to bat in the fourth innings after being forced to follow on was a very small victory for this team but to stand on the wicket for more than 163 overs in the last innings and lose only 6 wickets is a feat that should inspire not only the Caribbean natives but also the cricket loves all across the world. 

Before the last Test match in Delhi, the last Windies batter to score a red-ball century was Justin Greaves seven Tests ago in 2024 against Bangladesh at North Sound, Antigua. Lack of centuries has been a worrying sign for this team since the inception of WTC. John Campbell's maiden Test hundred and Shai Hope's first ton in 8 years at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi corrected that record. Shai Hope went one better at Hagley to double his number of centuries to 4 in two consecutive Tests following up his fifty in the first innings. Hope was struggling with an eye infection throughout the Test match batting with sunglasses but nothing affected his grit and determination. He found an able ally in fast-bowling all-rounder Justin Greaves who became the seventh player overall and first from No.6 or below to score a fourth innings double ton.

The 31-year old who scored his highest First Class score in this match occupied the crease with a strong defense not giving the opposing team a single chance. There were shades another fourth Test double ton in fourth innings by another fast-bowling all-rounder Kyle Mayers a few years ago in Chattogram. Let's hope that Greaves does not vanish like Mayers to the lure of franchise leagues and continues to thrive for his team in the red-ball format. The fact that Greaves managed to stay on for 383 balls shows that you can defy all odds if you concentrate on staying put. 

At the start of the test match, Kemar Roach at No.8 looked a touch higher in the batting order. It's not the first time Roach has managed to spend time at the crease. He has a sturdy technique and he has played 100+ balls on many such occasions. This is the first time Roach has managed breach the 50-run mark in Test cricket and what a time to do so. After completing a fifer early on Day 4, he brought his experience to the fore giving his all to complete a remarkable draw for the team. Windies might have taken a chance to go for the target if they had enough wickets in the bank but they decided to shut shop and ensure they take away at least 4 points from the game.

West Indies reminds us the beauty of dead-bat cricket

Both the teams will now travel to Wellington where they play the second Test at Basin Reserve starting from 10th December. New Zealand will be sweating on Matt Henry's fitness given their fast bowling stocks are already depleted. They have called up 30-year old Canterbury seamer Michael Rae for the next Test and if both Smith and Henry don't make it to the next match, Rae could potentially make his debut along with a recall for Blair Tickner who is already part of the squad for this series. Tom Blundell will be replaced by another debutant Mitch Hay who averages almost 50 in First-Class cricket. It will be interesting to see if West Indies give a chance to Anderson Phillip in place of either Layne or Shields while Shai Hope's availability will also be in question given his eye infection. The third Test will also be played back-yo-back from 18th December in Bay Oval so both teams will be looking to keep their bowlers fresh for the future games.

References: Statsguru by ESPNCricinfo