Windies hanging on by a thread
It must be referred to as the Daren Bravo day. The diminutive left hander from Trinidad who for so long has been touted as ‘the Lara look alike’ batted with an elegance and superiority of skills reminiscent of the world record holder, as he staved off the intense New Zealanders on day four of the first test match in the current series.
West Indies started the day, facing the ignominy of an innings defeat on 168 for 2 with much depending on Bravo who had already gone past his half century and Marlon Samuels.
That was not to be, as Samuels went cheaply in the early exchanges and to the horror of the West IIndies fans, top scorer in the first innings, Shiv Chanderpaul, followed shortly, lbw for just 1.
However, Bravo soon found an able ally in Narsingh Deonarine who batted with him stoutly in a partnership which yielded 122 runs before Deonarine was caught for 52.
Ramdin then joined Bravo and he batted positively for 24 before he was bowled.
Captain Daren Sammy then strode to the crease and continued from his undefeated knock in the first innings to play some superb shots as he helped Bravo to clear the possibility of an innings defeat.
At the end of the day’s play, the pair had already featured in an undefeated 80 runs partnership and giving the Windies team a slender lead of 47 runs with just Tino Best , Shannon Gabriel and Shane Shillingford to bat.
The commentators are predicting an early break through for the black caps on day five and then an early wrap up to the game. Windies fans would be hoping for an extended stay at the crease by both Bravo and Sammy and for the tail to wag indefinitely in order to save the day for the maroon caps.
Who says that test cricket is boring?
Summarized scores: Summarized scores: New Zealand 609 for 9 declared: Ross Taylor 217*; Brendon Mc Cullum 113
Tino Best b3 for 148; Deonarine 2 for 76; Sammy 2 for 78
West Indies 213 all out: Chanderpaul 76; Bravo 40; Sammy 27*
Southee 4 for 52; Boult 3 for 40; Sodhi 2 for 63
West Indies 443 for 6: Daren Bravo 210*; Kirk Edwards 59; Narsingh Deonarine 52; Daren Sammy 44*
Sodhi 2 for 138; Anderson, Wagner, Boult and Southee 1 wicket each