Batsmen give West Indies control of second Test against New Zealand

Port of Spain: New Zealand battled back strongly after conceding a first innings lead of 239 in the second test against the West Indies on Wednesday, reaching 73-1 in its second innings at close on the third day at the Queen’s Park Oval. No. 3 Kane Williamson hit an unbeaten 38 and shared a determined, unbroken second wicket stand of 64 with opener Tom Latham, who struck 30 not out. Pacer Jerome Taylor removed stand-in opener Brendon McCullum, the Kiwi skipper, and finished with 1-15. [caption id=“attachment_1578311” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Shivnarine Chanderpaul made 47 before being dismissed. AP[/caption] The West Indies, replying to New Zealand’s first innings of 221, had earlier stretched its overnight 310-5 to 460 all out half hour before tea. Newcomer Jermaine Blackwood hit a forthright 63 off 110 balls with six fours and two sixes. He shared stands of 47 with veteran Shivnarine Chanderpaul and 76 with captain Denesh Ramdin to help ram home the advantage the hosts had built on day two. Chanderpaul struck five fours and a six in 47 while Ramdin hit four boundaries in 32 off 67 balls. New Zealand removed nightwatchman Kemar Roach (6) and Chanderpaul in the morning session. Roach chipped Trent Boult to short midwicket at 333-6 while Chanderpaul was given out lbw playing no stroke to a big-spinning leg break from Ish Sodhi — after a TV review — at 380-7. But Blackwood and Ramdin consolidated the Caribbean’s side advantage after the break with an enterprising half century stand. The tourists eventually wrapped up the innings with three wickets for the cost of four runs. Blackwood edged to Ross Taylor at first slip off Sodhi while Ramdin picked out the same fielder, who dived to his right to haul in a brilliant catch to give seamer Jimmy Neesham his first scalp. Sodhi ended the West Indies’ resistance when Jerome Taylor (4) holed out to long-off. The leg-spinner earned career-best figures of 4-96 while left-arm seamer Boult took 3-75. New Zealand, forced to open with captain McCullum instead of the ill Hamish Rutherford, survived unscathed to tea. But Taylor struck early in the final session when he gained an lbw verdict against McCullum (3), who failed as he tried to overturn the decision on TV review. But Latham, with three successive half centuries behind him, and the equally assured Williamson blunted the home team over the next two hours, ten minutes with few alarms. The pair, which has already shared two century stands in this series, chose defense as their main method. Williamson blossomed at times and counted five fours off 118 balls, while Latham struck four boundaries off 122 deliveries. Reuters