By Alex Powell at Bay Oval
Tom Latham and Devon Conway have all but guaranteed the Black Caps a series victory over the West Indies, with New Zealand 10 wickets away from claiming the third test at Bay Oval on the final day.
After bowling the West Indies out for 420, and taking a 155-run lead, New Zealand hammered 306-2 in only 54 overs before declaring, and setting the tourists 462 runs to level the series at 1-1.
With 16 overs to survive before stumps, the West Indies reached the close of play at 43-0, with Brandon King (37 not out) and John Campbell (two not out) at the crease, on a pitch that has rapidly deteriorated from the pristine batting surface it was two days earlier.
The tourists need another 419 in 90 overs if they’re to claim a world record chase.
For the second time in as many innings, New Zealand’s scorecard was built on Latham (101) and Conway (100) - making it the first time one set of openers have both scored two centuries in the same test.
While they couldn’t replicate their colossal first innings of 323, New Zealand’s first wicket pair added 192 more runs in just 242 deliveries and set the platform for the Black Caps’ declaration. No openers in test cricket history have scored more in a test than Latham and Conway’s combined 515.
Conway became the first Kiwi - and 10th player ever - to score a double-century and century in the same game, after also adding a career-best 227 in the first innings. What’s more, with 327 runs in the match, only Stephen Fleming (343) and Martin Crowe (329) have made more in a single test than Conway.
At the other end, Latham reached 100 for the 16th time in tests, extending his record for the most centuries by a New Zealand opener, with his third hundred of the series.
As further cause for celebration in the Latham household, Tom being involved in two successive century opening stands saw him emulate his father Rod, who achieved the same feat against Zimbabwe, alongside Mark Greatbatch in 1992.
With a first innings haul of 4-86 to help wrap up the West Indies in the morning, Jacob Duffy will be expected to lead the seamers on day five, with 18 wickets already to his name this series.
Meanwhile, having waited seven years to take a first test wicket on home soil, Ajaz Patel finished the first innings with 3-113, and looms as New Zealand’s key on a pitch that’s already shown it will offer both turn and variable bounce.
Despite the situation, though, the West Indies can bank on the fight they showed on the final day in Christchurch to open the series.
This pitch, though, will only become more treacherous to bat on, and with vital World Test Championship points on the line, it’s hard to picture a reality where the visitors pull off two great escapes in the space of three tests.
Resuming at 381-6, and boosted by the availability of both Shai Hope and Kemar Roach - previously absent with illness and a hamstring injury respectively - the West Indies’ first innings was wrapped up before lunch, leaving Kavem Hodge stranded with an unbeaten 123.
Ahead by 155, Latham and Conway saw off a tricky period before lunch to reach the break at 35-0, before taking the attack to the West Indies in the afternoon.
After reaching 35-0 at lunch, the Black Caps’ lead swelled in the afternoon, as the openers plundered 157 runs in just 28 overs. Latham and Conway needed just 127 and 136 balls to reach their respective hundreds, compared to 183 and 147 from day one.
Latham’s innings saw him hit nine boundaries and two sixes, while Conway found the fence eight times, and cleared it thrice more. Conway raced from 25 at the lunch break to his seventh test hundred, but perished in the first over after tea, when he was excellently caught by Jayden Seales on the midwicket boundary.
A reverse-swept four off Hodge’s bowling took Latham into the 90s, before a push out to deep point saw the captain to triple figures again, before he too departed courtesy of an outstanding catch on the midwicket fence at 235-2, and ahead by 389 runs.
Once Kane Williamson (40 not out) and Rachin Ravindra (46 not out) added 72 runs in only 37 balls, Latham decided New Zealand had enough, and asked the West Indies to negotiate a tricky close.
After they added 111 together in the first innings, the West Indies’ openers got to stumps without any great scare.
Campbell’s two runs came off 50 balls, as a sign he’s in for the long haul, while King’s 37 came off 46 deliveries, with 28 of them coming in boundaries.
New Zealand 575 & 306-2 declared (Latham 101, Conway 100; Hodge 2-80)
West Indies 420 & 43-0 (King 37 not out, Campbell 2 not out)
West Indies need 419 runs for victory
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.