Contest, Test, series to Kiwis

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming said the result topped off a superb year for the Black Caps. “I rate it very highly. Obviously a series win against the West Indies is no mean feat, but the way the year has gone it’s just snowballed,” Fleming said. “The guys have got in a habit of winning, and to win the amount of Tests we’ve won this year (four), I’m just ecstatic.”Thewin was a rare one over the West Indies, with New Zealand having won just one Test series against them, in 1979-80. It was only their sixth Test win in 30 contests. West Indies coach Viv Richards said his biggest job now was to how to boost his team’s confidence. “We’ve been in this position before and have had our knocks, but all is not lost,” Richards said.

“There is still a lot of cricket to be played and our players have got to be as positive as they can be. My job is to keep their chins and heads up.”The West Indies started the day with all wickets intact for two runs, following on 339 runs behind New Zealand’s first innings of 518 for nine declared, and were dismissed for 234. New Zealand’s Mathew Sinclair was a clear choice for Man of the Match, after scoring 214 on his debut. It was the equal second-highest Test debut innings and the seventh-highest Test knock by a New Zealand player.

The West Indies position looked hopeless at the start of play today. Once again they started in the worstpossible way, losing Sherwin Campbell inside the first five overs.

The tourists then showed the application which had been lacking since day one of the first Test at hamilton, with Adrian Griffith, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and then captain Brian Lara all digging in.

SCOREBOARD
New Zealand (1st innings): 518-9 decl.

West Indies (1st innings): 179
West Indies (2nd innings; overnight 2-0): A Griffith run out 45, S Campbell lbw Cairns 3, S Chanderpaul c Parore b Nash 70, B Lara c Parore b Nash 75, J Adams c Parore b Nash 4, R Jacobs c Stead b Vettori 20, N Perry lbw Astle 0, F Rose lbw Cairns 10, C Walsh lbw Nash 0, R King not out 4; Extras: (w1, lb1, b1) 3. Total: (all out, 83.1 overs) 234
Did not bat: D Ganga (injured)
Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-83, 3-148, 4-154, 5-189, 6-204, 7-225, 8-225, 9-234
Bowling: O’Connor 16-3-50-0, Vettori 32-8-86-1, Nash 16-4-38-4, Cairns 13.1-4-25-2, Astle 7-0-33-1

Result: New Zealand won by aninnings & 105 runs