HAMILTON, New Zealand, CMC – West Indies lost five wickets in the first session to find themselves in turmoil at lunch on the pivotal third day of the opening Test at Seddon Park.
Resuming the morning on 49 without loss, the Caribbean side suffered a nightmare 15-ball period at the start where they lost three wickets for two runs to stumble to the interval on 114 for five, still 405 runs behind New Zealand’s massive first innings of 519 for seven declared.
Left-hander Darren Bravo (9) and Roston Chase (11) also fell in successive deliveries on the hour mark as all told, the Windies surrendered their five wickets for just 26 runs in 12.2 overs. Things could have been even worse for West Indies when captain Jason Holder was given out plumb lbw to Neil Wagner before he had scored, only for TV replays to reveal the left-arm seamer had overstepped.
Holder returned to the crease and was there on 14 at the break, involved in a 35-run, unbroken sixth wicket stand with Jermaine Blackwood who was unbeaten on 18.
Veteran seamer Tim Southee, who has taken two for 33, started the rot when he got John Campbell to chip a simple catch to mid-off off the day’s fifth delivery after the left-hander had added only four to his overnight 22.
And Southee was on the mark again in his next over, finding Shamarh Brooks’s outside edge to have the right-hander taken at first slip by Ross Taylor for one.
Opener Kraigg Brathwaite, resuming on 20, then perished in the next over after adding a single run, brilliantly taken by wicketkeeper Tom Blundell diving away to his right off left-arm pacer Trent Boult.
Bravo, adjudged lbw to Southee before he had scored but reprieved by DRS, managed only nine before he was bowled middle and off on the stroke of the first hour, by one from lanky seamer Kyle Jamieson which shaped back. More misery followed when Chase was hit in front by Wagner with the first ball following the drinks break, New Zealand only gaining the lbw decision after resorting to DRS.
