Mount Maunganui: Second-innings centuries by New Zealand openers Tom Latham and Devon Conway set West Indies a tough target of 462 on the fourth day of the third and final Test at Bay Oval on Sunday.
This is the first time that a team’s openers have each scored a century in both innings in a Test match. Latham scored 137 runs and Conway scored 227 runs in the first innings.
Trailing 1-0 in the three-Test series, the West Indies ended the day at 43/0 – still 419 short of their elusive target. Brandon King with 37 runs and John Campbell with 2 runs were in the field.
West Indies resumed at 381/6 and were all out for 420 to declare New Zealand’s first innings 575/8.
Latham and Conway put on 323 in the first innings and again punished the West Indies attack, which suffered a mid-match injury to paceman Gamer Roach.
Gavem Hodge finally ended the opening partnership on 192 when he was caught by Jayden Seals for Conway’s 100, which included a flurry of eight fours and three sixes.
Hodge and Seals combined again to dismiss New Zealand captain Latham, whose 101 included nine fours and two sixes.
Kane Williamson’s unbeaten 40 and Rachin Ravindran’s unbeaten 46 with 4 sixes helped New Zealand declare for 306-2 in their second innings.
“We make sure we get enough time to bowl them and then make sure we get some runs that we are comfortable enough with…,” New Zealand batting coach Luke Ronchi said at the time of their announcement.
“We’ve got to make sure we bowl the way we know we can and we’ll go out there believing in ourselves, we’ve got 90 overs tomorrow to take 10 wickets.”
The West Indies openers displayed contrasting approaches in the last 16 overs of today’s game.
King hit seven fours to dominate the New Zealand bowlers as Campbell was dismissed in 21 balls.