Now, remember the West Indies won the second test of their rubber in Trinidad in June by 10 wickets, chasing only 93 and with Chris Gayle on a tear, with a rapid, unbeaten 80 not out; New Zealand took only five wickets on the Abu Dhabi road in a 248-run defeat, and 15 at Dubai in the drawn second test of the series against Pakistan.
That accounts for 30 of the missing 37.
It is a young bowling group. The kingpins, Tim Southee and Trent Boult, are 26 and 25 respectively. Third seamer Neil Wagner is 28. Spinners Mark Craig and Ish Sodhi are 27 and 22. Allrounders Jimmy Neesham and Corey Anderson are 24.
There's plenty of legs left in that group, not forgetting the seamer next in line, Doug Bracewell, is 24, too.
"We've learned a lot from each other and as a reasonably young bowling unit we seem to get better and we're wanting to improve," Southee said. "I don't think anyone is happy with where we're at and can rest on the year that's been.
"We bring out the best in each other, push each other in training and games as well."
Southee cites the work of team fitness trainer, the former Olympic sprinter Chris Donaldson, as critical to their success.
"He deserves a lot of credit with the training and conditioning he puts in."
Success doesn't happen by accident.
The bowling group - and batsmen, for that matter - get together separately before each series to discuss tactical approaches to opposing batsmen. Bowling coach Shane Bond and performance analyst Paul Warren play their parts, too.
"It's a massive part of cricket now and if we can get that side of things down pat it does go a long way towards success; having clear plans that we all know and stick to and we've shown they do work."
While Boult and Southee have been the dominant figures in the attack all year, and now sit seventh and ninth on the latest International Cricket Council rankings for test bowlers, several others have played their part.
Offspinner Mark Craig is the latest to come on board and he's made a strong impression.
His 10 wickets won man of the match in the series-levelling win over Pakistan in Sharjah; 26 wickets in his first seven tests in three different parts of the globe have caught the eye, and his batting has been distinctly handy, too.
"He came from nowhere and I guess that's a sign of the environment Brendon [McCullum] and Hess [coach Mike Hesson] have created. You come in and feel comfortable and feel you can express yourself.
"You also come into a team playing a great brand of cricket," Southee said.
Targets for the coming year?
"Our record away from home wasn't great and slowly we've worked on that," Southee said.
"We've always been a good side at home. Now we're becoming a side that's not quite feared, but getting there in our own conditions, and we've also shown in pretty tough conditions in the Caribbean and UAE that we can do it away from home.
"That's something we want to continue, become a force at home and overseas."
That will start in England in May when New Zealand pull on the whites next, once the second Sri Lankan test is over in Wellington next week and the World Cup is done.
But the players can always reflect on a 2014 in which they took significant strides as a test team.
New Zealand's wicket takers in 2014 tests
Total wickets taken: 143 out of a possible 180
• Trent Boult (pictured) 34 at 28.58 (nine tests)
• Tim Southee 33 at 26.03 (nine)
• Mark Craig 26 at 43.03 (7)
• Neil Wagner 19 at 27.36 (4)
• Ish Sodhi 16 at 53.75 (6)
• Jimmy Neesham 8 at 39.87 (7)
• Dan Vettori 2 at 24.5 (1)
• Kane Williamson 2 at 49.5 (9)
• Corey Anderson 2 at 130.0 (5)
• Brendon McCullum 1 at 51.0 (9)
There were no runouts by New Zealand in 2014.
