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Kingston: Tim Southee and Mark Craig finished with four wickets each as the home side ended their innings 260 behind. Day four will resume with Tom Latham and Ish Sodhi at the crease and the Blackcaps at 14-2.
Resuming at 19-0, the West Indies openers struggled with Southee’s early overs as he played cat and mouse with Chris Gayle in particular. But it was the spin duo of Craig and Sodhi that did the damage in the first session.
Craig collected his first Test wicket having Kieran Powell lbw for 28. Two balls later the debutant sent Kirk Edwards back to the shed without scoring. A thick outside edge was caught by Ross Taylor at first slip, giving Craig a double wicket maiden over.
Sodhi, not wanting to be left out of the action, grabbed his first wicket of the match in the next over with an easy caught and bowled to have Darren Bravo also gone for a duck.
The home side had gone from 60 without loss to be 61-3. However, Gayle was ensuring it wasn’t all one-way traffic in the opening session as he brought up his half century to the delight of his home crowd at Sabina Park.
Only minutes after the lunch break, the Gayle fairytale was over with Southee finally getting a slight edge from the centurion, caught by BJ Watling. The master walked off with 64 runs under his belt. Not quite the century the Kingston crowd was yearning for but a good knock to celebrate his 100 Test milestone.
Southee had his second wicket two balls later, when Marlon Samuels was dismissed lbw for a duck.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul and new skipper Denesh Ramdin consolidated matters for the remainder of the session before Southee broke up the 72-run partnership right on the tea break as Ramdin ballooned a ball to Watling for 39. The West Indies went to tea at 176-6.
From there, it was steady progress through the tail. Kemar Roach went for four, and Jerome Taylor for seven, going to a spectacular catch by Brendon McCullum at mid off. Sulieman Benn played an entertaining 17 from 18 before he was bowled trying to hit Craig out of the ground.
Shane Shillingford and Chanderpaul edged their team closer to the follow on mark, before Southee and the new ball accounted for the former, and Craig and Southee ended the innings with four wickets apiece.
The Blackcaps did not enforce the follow-on, and their negotiation of a tricky period got off to a shaky start when Peter Fulton chased a wide one from Taylor, only to get an edge and he was caught by Ramdin for a duck.
Kane Williamson was bowled by Roach without playing a shot, to bring nightwatchman Sodhi to the crease. The West Indian attack put the pair under pressure with pace and spin, but they survived to fight on on day four.
The Blackcaps are 260 runs ahead with two days to play. They'll be looking to press home their advantage on day four, while the West Indies will look to battle back into the match. Play starts at 3am Thursday NZ time.
Brief scores:
New Zealand - 508/7 dec. (Williamson 113, Neesham 107, Benn 3-145) and 14/2
West Indies - 262 (Chanderpaul 84*, Gayle 64, Southee 4-19, Craig 4-91)
Status - New Zealand lead by 260 runs.
