West Indies put on a marathon batting effort with the help of an unlikely eighth-wicket partnership between Justin Greaves and Kemar Roach to pull off an epic fifth day draw in the first Test against New Zealand at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Saturday. Starting the final day at 212 for four with Hope and Greaves at the crease, West Indies lost Shai Hope and wicket-keeper Tevin Imlach early in the morning session before the veteran comeback man Roach forged a record partnership with the 31-year-old Greaves to save the Test. West Indies finished on 457/7 in 163. 3 overs, collectively spending 694 minutes at the crease. The total is the highest-ever fourth innings score in a five-day Test. Only England’s 654/5 against South Africa in 1939 ranks higher, however, it came in over 218 overs of batting in a Timeless Test in Durban.
Bringing up his maiden Test fifty at the age of 37 in a time of crisis, veteran pacer Kemar Roach became the first lower order batter(No. 8 -11) to play more than 200 balls in the fourth innings to draw a Test. He scored 58* off 233 balls. While Justin Greaves became only the fourth West Indian and the seventh overall to record a fourth-innings double century.
Interestingly, this is the only unbeaten double century in the fourth innings of a drawn Test. Greaves showed terrific patience and batted out the entire day despite having some problem with cramps. New Zealand’s bowlers, who had dominated the first half of the match, were left frustrated as multiple chances went down. They were also without the services of Matt Henry who was ruled out due to injury and had only two pacers to operate with on the Final day. To make things worse, New Zealand ran out of reviews and could not challenge a couple of close calls that went against them on the final day.
Justin Greaves was named the player of the match and two other key contributors with him were Hope and Roach. His 196-run stand with Shai Hope (140) and then a 180-run partnership for the unbroken seventh wicket with Kemar Roach, who made 58 not out helped West Indies get their first points of this WTC cycle.
On the other hand, New Zealand have missed an opportunity for a win as this was their first match in this cycle and at Hagley Oval they have now lost three matches out of the last four with the only win coming against Sri Lanka in a thriller. The second match of this series will be played in Wellington from Tuesday.
