A clean sweep for West Indies

A yet another compelling performance from West Indies saw them crush New Zealand by 5 wickets in the second Test at Jamaica, to clean sweep the series 2-0. It has been 16 years since the Windies beat the Kiwis in a Test series and they finally did it this time.

It was a yet another drubbing, this time in the Test arena and the Kiwis were now desperate to end the series on a high. They faced problems before the start of the second Test losing Daniel Vettori out due to injury. For the Windies, Ravi Rampaul was injured as well.

The Windies won the toss this time and surprisingly, chose to field. That was due to the overnight rain and Darren Sammy wanted his seamers to make use of the early moisture. The only change made by the hosts was that Tino Best came in for Rampaul. The Kiwi brought in Bradley Watling, Trent Boult and Tim Southee for Daniel Flynn, Daniel Vettori and surprisingly Chris Martin.

The fast bowlers struck immediately and reduced the Kiwis to 11/2, getting rid of Watling and Brendon McCullum. Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor then consolidated with a fine stand of 103 before Taylor was dismissed. It was followed up by another gutsy stand between Guptill and Kane Williamson and the Kiwis were looking comfortable at 152/3 at Tea on Day 1.

And then, one witnessed a bizarre final session. Williamson was dismissed immediately after Tea and that led to a collapse as the Kiwis were bundled out for 260. Kemar Roach ran through the batting order with a 4-wicket haul and earned a Bowling Efficiency of 12. For the visiting side, Martin Guptill made 71 while Ross Taylor scored 60, with Batting Momentums of 82 and 76 respectively.

The Windies did not get off to a good start either. In fact, they hardly got off to a start. The batsmen were not allowed to score freely and that was evident from the fact that Chris Gayle struggled to make 8 runs from 55 balls.

It was a total flop show from the home side as they scraped to 209, largely due to Marlon Samuels’ 123 which included 15 fours and 4 sixes with a Batting Momentum of 179. Trent Boult and Doug Bracewell took 3 wickets apiece but it was Neil Wagner who had the best Bowling Efficiency of 16 with figures of 10-3-24-2.

The Kiwis were pumped up with a crucial lead of 51 and the openers, Guptill and Watling looked even more determined this time. They went to 55/0 on Day 2 but towards the end of the day, they lost both the openers. The following day the Kiwis were ultra-defensive and paid a heavy price for it.

They struggled to score and crept along to 154, setting a target of 206 for the Windies to go 2-0 up in the series. Narsingh Deonarine was the surprise star for the Windies, picking up a 4-wicket haul while Sunil Narine got the best Bowling Efficiency of 28 for his 3/19 in 12 overs. It was a pretty poor batting display from the Kiwis, struggling to bat even a whole day.

West Indies got off to a poor start again, losing their openers cheaply but Samuels and Assad Fudadin helped them recover with a 74-run stand. Both were dismissed, but by the end of the day, the Windies were 135/4, needing just another 71 runs to win.

That was hardly any problem as Roach took the attack to the opposition, smashing the ball to all parts. The game ended within 90 minutes with Roach getting dismissed before the close. Had the Kiwis taken the chance given by Samuels last afternoon, we could have been for a tighter finish.

Have a look at the scorecard.

West Indies finished with a Castrol Index of 145 while the Kiwis ended up with a value of 126.

Marlon Samuels was named the Man Of The Match while Kemar Roach was named the Man Of The Series.