KINGSTON – Typically stoic batting from Shivnarine Chanderpaul and a career-best knock from Kemar Roach allowed West Indies to formalise a five-wicket victory over New Zealand in the second Test here yesterday.
Chanderpaul was not out on 43 and Roach made 41 as West Indies successfully completed their chase of 206 runs for victory before lunch on the fourth day.
Chanderpaul and Roach put on 70 for the fifth wicket to keep the West Indies firmly on track for the victory.
Chanderpaul struck just one boundary from 101 balls in 148 minutes and Roach hit four fours from 60 balls in 80 minutes.
Veteran left-hander Chanderpaul formalized the victory about 40 minutes before lunch, when he chopped a delivery from part-time off-spinner Kane Williamson to third man for a single.
The result gave West Indies a 2-0 series victory, following a nine-wicket win in the first Test, which ended last Monday at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua.
It was their first series sweep since Ridley Jacobs’ side beat Bangladesh 2-0 close to a decade ago and it helped West Indies to move ahead of the Black Caps in the ICC World Test Rankings to No. 7.
For West Indies, whose next assignment is the Twenty20 World Cup, the victory was reward for coach Ottis Gibson and skipper Darren Sammy who have worked hard to re-establish the dominance of the Caribbean team through a new generation of players.
“We have gotten the feeling of what it is like to win but it is about continuous hard work now,” Sammy said.
“The performances are coming from different players at different times and that is the hallmark of a good team.
“The last year or two has been tough for us. We are going to celebrate this now but then it is about getting the wins consistently.”
Roach and Chanderpaul comfortably batted through all but five minutes of the first hour, after West Indies resumed from their overnight total of 135 for four.
Fast bowler Roach treated the small crowd at Sabina Park to a few attractive strokes, including an imperious straight drive and a flamboyant cover drive in Tim Southee’s 12th over.
He also slapped Neil Wagner square for his third boundary, bringing up the 50-run partnership with Chanderpaul before he looked to drive Williamson over cover, got a thick outside edge and was caught at backward point.
Narsingh Deonarine joined Chanderpaul and they carried West Indies over the threshold.
New Zealand’s Test series defeat, coming after the side lost the one-day series in the Caribbean, was a disappointing end to coach John Wright’s spell in charge of the team and leaves plenty of questions for his successor, Mike Hesson, to deal with.
The tour included two Twenty20 games and five One-Day Internationals as well as the two Tests and all New Zealand could manage was a solitary win in the one-day series.
“It has been a disappointing tour all round,” said skipper Ross Taylor.
“We had our chances in this match, like we had chances in a lot of the matches but winning is a habit and we were beaten by a better team at the end of the day.
“Our batting needs to a take a good, hard look at ourselves.”
A tour of India later this month ensures that the young New Zealand team will have little time for contemplation, however, and they will need to handle spin far better than they did on this tour. (CMC/Reuters)
