West Indies seamers utilised the green-top Queen's Park Oval pitch to rattle New Zealand by restricting them to 221 runs on the opening day of the second Test match in Port of Spain,Trinidad.
Pacer Jerome Taylor made the new ball talk and was rewarded with the wicket of Hamish Rutherford (3) early on. Kane Williamson (42) and Tom Latham (82) stitched a 102 run partnership for the second wicket, but the hosts picked two quick wickets in the second session to trigger a Kiwi collapse.
Taylor added three more wickets - James Neesham, BJ Watling and Ish Sodhi - to his tally, left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn took three wickets, Shannon Gabriel got two and Kemar Roach chipped in with one wicket.
"It is the kind of pitch that you have to put in something to get something out of it," Taylor said. "You have to put in that hard work. After the first session, we went back out knowing that we had to give ourselves a chance to get into the game and just be a bit more patient."
"It just goes to show that whenever you're patient and you're disciplined it pays off. We spoke about how they got away from us in the first session and decided we had to make amends and cut down the run rate and look to get some wickets in between. I think we did a good job."
Taylor said he made some changes in his line and length from the last game at the Sabina Park and it paid off.
"I think I bowled a bit straighter and a bit fuller than I did in Jamaica and that also helped me," he said. "I had the batsmen playing a bit more, which is what you need to do as a fast bowler."
Black Caps opener Latham, who scored his third half-century of the series, praised Taylor and said he made batting difficult by pitching the ball in the right areas.
"Jerome Taylor was exceptional today especially that spell after lunch" Latham said. "They certainly put the ball in the right areas for a good amount of time and made it a lot more difficult."
The 22-year-old said the pitch has uneven bounce, but it is helping the seamers and hopefully the Black Caps pacers will utilise it on the second day.
"(It's) a funny sort of wicket, a little bit tennis-bally," he explained. "The bounce is a little bit uneven. But the ball is still swinging so that's a positive sign for our bowlers leading in to tomorrow morning."
The Christchurch-born Latham , who seems to have settled into the top-order by striking three fifties in as many innings, said he should have batted longer after spending some time at the crease.
"It helps when you've got a few runs under your belt," he said. "You have to keep taking each innings at a time and you don't want to get too far ahead of yourself. Hopefully, in the second innings, if I do get an opportunity I can put the team in a good situation."
Where to Watch Live
The 2nd Test Day 2 is scheduled for a 10:00 am local (7:30 pm IST, 2:00 pm GMT) start with live coverage on Ten Cricket and Ten HD in India. The match can also be watched via live streaming online in India HERE. Catch the action live on TV on Sky Sports 2 in New Zealand, while viewers can also live stream the action HERE. Viewers in the US can watch the game on Willow TV while the action can also be live streamed HERE. Watch the match in Caribbean on Sports Max, while South Africa and Sub Saharan Africa viewers can view the match on SuperSport and live online HERE.
