HAMILTON, New Zealand — West Indies followed up Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s 29th Test hundred and valuable runs from their tail-enders with purposeful bowling to leave the third Test against New Zealand in an interesting state on Friday here.
Off-spinner Sunil Narine grabbed 2-43 from 22 overs, as the New Zealanders reached 156 for three, replying to the Windies’ first innings total of 367 at the close on the second day at Seddon Park.
For the first time in the series, it was not all one-way traffic, as Narine and Permaul wheeled away for 45 overs, tying the Black Caps batsmen down, although Kane Williamson made 58 and Ross Taylor continued in his rich vein of form with a pulsating, unbeaten 56 in a crucial third-wicket stand of 95.
This had unfolded after Chanderpaul remained unbeaten on 122, drawing level with Australian legend Don Bradman’s 29 Test hundred, eclipsing another Aussie, fellow left-hander Allan Border’s aggregate of 11,174 runs and for the 45th time in 260 innings succeeded in making sure the opposition failed to dismiss him.
He worked with compatriot Veerasammy Permaul and energetic Tino Best to earn West Indies a decent first innings total.
Best made 25 and Permaul got 20, as the Caribbean side were dismissed about three minutes before the scheduled lunch interval.
The pressure from the new-ball spell of Best and Sammy, the only two frontline seamers in the West Indies attack, then took its toll on the New Zealand openers.
Sammy soon clutched a low catch to dismiss left-hander Hamish Rutherford for 10 in the sixth over and Peter Fulton laboured for an hour-and-a-half for 11 from 71 balls without a boundary before he was caught at leg-spin, flicking at Narine’s third delivery, leaving New Zealand 43 for two.
West Indies failed to make further inroads into the New Zealanders’ batting for the remainder of the period between lunch and tea, and for all but the last half-hour of play, as Taylor came to the crease and formed a defiant alliance with Williamson, taking the hosts to tea on 76 for two.
After the break, West Indies continued to bowl steadily, giving precious little away, but Williamson reached his 50 from 116 balls with a back-foot drive off Best for two before he got tied down by the two West Indies spinners and was eventually adjudged lbw playing across a well-pitched off-break from Narine, following his review that confirmed the dismissal.
With Permaul, if not Best keeping things on a tight rein from the other end, Narine started to deal his bag of tricks and both Taylor and New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum were fortunate to survive, as balls whizzed past their edge and stumps regularly in the closing overs.
Earlier, Chanderpaul reached his milestone from 188 balls, when he cut Tim Southee between second slip and gully for his 11th boundary, following up Denesh Ramdin’s fourth Test hundred on the previous day that laid the platform for the visitors.
The 39-year-old Chanderpaul now has 11,199 runs at an average of 52.08 from 260 innings in his 153 Tests for West Indies, still 754 adrift of fellow West Indies left-hand batting legend Brian Lara on the list of all-time scorers.
After Sammy and Narine fell cheaply, Chanderpaul found Permaul and Best steady allies, as they frustrated the New Zealanders.
Best established a new last-wicket record for West Indies against New Zealand of 45 with Chanderpaul before he was caught behind off leg-spinner Ish Sodhi essaying a slog/sweep.
Southee was the most successful Black Caps bowler, grabbing 4-79 from 28 overs, and Corey Anderson supported with 3-47 from 18 overs.
The Windies trail 0-1 in the three-Test series, following a defeat by an innings and 73 runs in the second Test which ended last Friday at the Basin Reserve in the New Zealand capital of Wellington.
Rain forced a draw in the first Test which ended two Saturdays ago at University Oval in the South Island city of Dunedin.
SCOREBOARD
WEST INDIES 1st Innings
K. Brathwaite c Williamson b Southee 45
K. Powell c wkpr Watling b Wagner 26
K. Edwards c wkpr Watling b Southee 6
M. Samuels c Williamson b Anderson 0
S. Chanderpaul not out 122
N. Deonarine lbw b Deonarine 2
+D. Ramdin c wkpr Watling b Anderson 107
*D. Sammy c wkpr Watling b Southee 3
S. Narine b Boult 2
V. Permaul c Fulton b Southee 20
T. Best c wkpr Watling b Sodhi 25
Extras (b2, lb6, w1) 9
TOTAL (all out) 367
Fall of wickets: 1-41 (Powell), 2-77 (Brathwaite), 3-78 (Edwards), 4-82 (Samuels), 5-86 (Deonarine), 6-286 (+Ramdin), 7-296 (*Sammy), 8-307 (Narine), 9-332 (Permaul)
Bowling: Boult 26-2-84-1 (w1); Southee 28-3-79-4; Wagner 21-4-67-1; Corey Anderson 19-3-47-3; Williamson 5-0-17-0; Sodhi 17.2-0-65-1
Overs: 116.2
NEW ZEALAND 1st Innings
P. Fulton c Sammy b Narine 11
H. Rutherford c and b Sammy 10
K. Williamson lbw b Narine 58
R. Taylor not out 56
*B. McCullum not out 11
Extras (b6, lb2, nb2) 10
TOTAL (3 wkts) 156
Corey Anderson, +B. Watling, T. Southee, I. Sodhi, N. Wagner, T. Boult to bat
Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Rutherford), 2-43 (Fulton), 3-138 (Williamson)
Bowling: Best 9-1-29-0 (nb1); Sammy 10-5-17-1 (nb1); Permaul 23-4-59-0; Narine 22-9-43-2
Overs: 64
Position: New Zealand trail by 211 with seven first innings wickets standing
Umpires: I. Gould (England), N. Llong (England)
TV umpire: P. Reiffel (Australia)
Match referee: R. Mahanama (Sri Lanka)
Reserve umpire: D. Walker (New Zealand)