WELLINGTON, New Zealand, CMC – Joshua Da Silva’s impressive half-century on debut did little to diminish West Indies’ pain as they crumbled to an innings and 12-run defeat to the Black Caps inside the first hour of the penultimate day of the second Test here yesterday.
Resuming on 244 for six, West Indies lost captain Jason Holder to the sixth ball of the morning after he had added only one to his overnight 60, signalling the death knell as they tumbled to 317 all out in their second innings at the Basin Reserve.
Amid the carnage, the 22-year-old Da Silva managed to take some plaudits, converting his overnight 25 into 57, an innings that consumed 84 balls and 2-½ hours, and included six fours.
Left-arm seamer Neil Wagner snatched two of the four wickets to fall to end with three for 54 while veteran right-armer Tim Southee claimed the other two to finish with two for 96.
The defeat for West Indies followed on the heels of their innings and 134-run loss at Seddon Park in Hamilton last week, leaving them with a 2-0 whitewash and still without a series win on New Zealand soil in a quarter-of-a-century.
Further, the loss was the fourth in five Tests this year for West Indies and 12th in their last 17 Tests over the last three years.
Starting the morning needing another 85 runs to avoid an innings defeat, much of the pressure rested on captain Holder but he lasted just four balls before playing down the wrong line to Southee and having his stumps rattled.
Alzarri Joseph, emboldened by his half-century in the first Test, arrived to launch a bold counter-attack, lashing three fours and a couple of sixes in a 12-ball 24, in posting 30 for the eighth wicket with Da Silva.
Playing with authority, he cleared the ropes at mid-wicket with Southee for his first scoring stroke and then elegantly drove the next ball straight for four.
In Southee’s next over, Joseph thumped him over the ropes at square leg for his second six but then gloved a leg-side catch to the wicketkeeper two balls later to leave West Indies on 282 for eight.
Da Silva kept his composure, however, moving into the 40s by cutting left-arm pacer Trent Boult to the square boundary before bringing up his landmark four overs later with a quick single.
Wagner eventually got one to straighten and remove him lbw in his first over of the morning, the Trinidadian reviewing the decision more in desperation than in confidence but finding no reprieve.
And Shannon Gabriel followed without scoring in Wagner’s next over, bowled down by the first delivery to end the innings with 2-1/2 sessions remaining in the day.
