Snubbed by the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises, Devon Conway served up an unbeaten century (178) to steer New Zealand to 334 for one on the first day of the third Test against West Indies in Mount Maunganui on Thursday. Skipper Tom Latham too hammered a century before falling in the 87th over of the day.
It was a plentiful harvest for the Kiwi openers as Conway and Latham (137) put the hapless West Indies attack to the sword. They almost played through the day and thereby let the next batters literally cool their heels in the dressing room. The West Indies were hoping for some heroics but by the day ended, Roston Chase and his men were left chasing shadows.
Each of the five previous Test matches at this ground have yielded a wicket in its first session. This one didn’t and Kane Williamson, so used to an early start at the office, had to wait the longest he ever has to clock in. So restless had he grown that at the start of the final session, he was seen wearing all his gear barring the helmet practicing a rapid-fire series of leaves and blocks.
Latham had a big part in the history he helped make. Over 25 home Tests, dating all the way back to March 2012, New Zealand have only ever chosen to bowl after winning the toss. They did this on Thursday and Latham’s hunch came true. Outside of that one bold move, everything else he did was basic. Playing close to the body. Knowing exactly where his off stump was. Frustrating the bowlers to target his pads. Manufacturing easy put-aways. Latham’s 15th Test century, where he went past 6000 runs as an opener, was proof that fairy tales aren’t the only things that can come to life. Latham finally fell on 137 and Test cricket was so close to having a fifth opening pair lasting the entire first day. Conway and Latham added 323 for the first wicket.
Conway played himself into form. Twenty-six of his last 39 innings were cut short at or below the 30-run mark, which isn’t ideal considering his role at the top of the order is to set the whole team up. Given he was walking out onto a pitch with an unusual amount of grass, there was cause for concern. He put them all to bed, weathering an initial period where West Indies were willing to give up only 11 runs in eight overs. He instigated the first period of New Zealand dominance, the six overs to morning drinks where they scored a-run-a-ball. He went on to bat for longer than he has ever done since his double-century on debut at Lord’s four years ago.
The West Indies had the first use of a surface that looked like it had been left in the care of a kindergartener with a green crayon. The bowlers, though, didn’t make the best use of it. Anderson Phillip had a rare wicket-taking chance when Latham nicked one behind to the keeper on 104 and was dropped.
This was no batting paradise. Nor was it ever a fast bowler’s dream. Spinners took two-thirds of the wickets in the most recent First-class game here. It is with that in mind that New Zealand brought Ajaz Patel into the XI and backed themselves to put up a big total.
Conway has led them there, batting through cramp, batting one-handed and eventually hitting that rarefied place where he was just batting on instinct, reacting perfectly even to things like extra and low bounce – but things could have been so different if West Indies had shown a little more discipline.
Brief scores: New Zealand 334/1 in 90 overs (Devon Conway 178 batting, Tom Latham 137; Kemar Roach 1/63).
