The first Test match after two high-profile Twenty20 tournaments – the World T20 and the IPL – got off to a slow start at Sabina Park, Kingston, as New Zealand’s run rate stayed below 2.65 an over throughout the day. The visitors, however, had the better time of it after Kane Williamson and Tom Latham adjusted to the pitch, whose strongest characteristic was its sluggishness, and put on a 165-run stand for the second wicket.
The spectators who came to the ground to see Chris Gayle bat in his 100th Test had to wait after West Indies’ new Test captain, Denesh Ramdin, lost the toss. Instead, they were witness to the comebacks of four bowlers from layoffs of varying lengths, and the discipline of two young New Zealand batsmen, who played with a patience that is becoming increasingly rare in international cricket.
Jerome Taylor, whose last Test was in November 2009, opened the bowling with Kemar Roach, who had been out of action for more than a year. Neither bowler hit the speeds they used to before their injuries, but that was probably due to the pitch. Moving the ball away from both the right and left-hand openers, Taylor was more effective than Roach, but on the whole they could have made the batsmen play more than they did. Their lengths too were shorter than ideal on this surface, whose slowness made it easy to play on the back foot…
South Africa Today Sport – Cricket News – West Indies vs New Zealand – Cricket