New Zealand complete 4-day win as debutant Mark Craig shines

New Zealand won the 1^st Test at Kingston on 4^th day by 186 runs

27-year-old Test debutant Mark Craig emerged an unexpected Man of the Match for the Black Caps in the first Test at Kingston against West Indies, as the visitors completed a comprehensive 186-run win on the fourth day of the match.

The off-spinner, called up in the national side over the usual choices Daniel Vettori and Jeetan Patel, capped off a memorable Test with match-figures of 8 for 188. His 4/91 in first innings was followed by another 4-wicket-haul in the 2^nd as West Indies collapsed to 216 all out, chasing 403. He also made a mark with the bat, hitting the first delivery he faced in his Test career for a six, becoming the first to do so in Tests, and 2^nd after Pakistan’s Sohail Tanvir in international cricket.

Chasing 403, West Indies openers departed cheaply in Tim Southee’s first two overs, with Chris Gayle failing to add much to his first innings half-century in his 100^th Test. Powell was the first to depart on duck, flicking staright to mid-wicket off Southee, who had troubled Gayle througout the first innings, and didn’t had to wait too long for the desired result this time around, getting the edge in his 2^nd over.

Resuming at 15/2 after tea, the spin-duo of Mark Craig and Ish Sodhi ripped through the middle order, with Sodhi trapping the dangerous Shivnarine Chanderpaul in front of the stumps when he padded to a delivery. Chanderpaul’s wicket almost sealed the deal in visitor’s favour, who then had to chip away trying to finish the game on the fourth day.

Coach Mike Hesson had said earlier that Craig, who avereged 39.72 with the ball in this domestic season, would prove effective against the left-handed heavy top order of the hosts, but the offie managed to do better than expected. On just the 2^nd ball of his opening spell, he struck, dismissing Kirk Edwards for the 2^nd time in the match. He followed it up by 2 wickets – accounting for Darren Bravo and Marlon Samuels – in the space of 3 balls, with some good close-in fielding from the Kiwis.

Skipper Denesh Ramdin’s 62-ball vigil for 34 failed to take the hosts into the 5^th day. Into the tail, New Zealand opted for the 30-minute extension to try finish the game, but some free hitting from Sulieman Benn and Shane Shillingford took things to the last over of the day.

Shillingford hit Test cricket’s 2^nd fastest half-century in 25 balls, and his 82-run partnership with Benn provided some entertainment to the crowd. But McCullum brought Kane Williamson on for the last over, and it took him 4 deliveries to find Benn’s edge and take a 1-0 lead in the 3-Test series.

Earlier in the day, Jerome Taylor burst through the defences of nighwatchman Ish Sodhi and Ross Taylor off successive deliveries, trapping them plumb in front of the wicket. However, Tom Lathams’ 181-ball 73 and some contributions from Neesham and Watling pushed the target over 400 for West Indies, an improbable task for their brittle batting order.

Brief Scores:

New Zealand 508/7 dec (K Williamson 113, J Neesham 107; S Benn 3/142) & 156/8 dec (T Lathan 73, B Watling 22; J Taylor 3/22)

beat

West Indies 262/10 (S Chanderpaul 84*, C Gayle 64; T Southee 4/19) & 216/10 (S Shillingford 53*, D Ramdin 34; M Craig 4/97)

by 186 runs

Quotes:

Man of the Match Mark Craig: “It's a bit of a dream. I'm on top of the world. Brendon gave us a bit of a license (on hitting his first ball for six). Lot of fun to bowl on (on the conditions), and I'm pretty happy with how everything went and to get the win was pretty special.”