Kane Williamson scored a fine century to anchor New Zealand's innings in the rain-curtailed fourth day of the third Test match against West Indies at the Kensington Oval on Sunday.
Williamson struck his seventh Test ton - second of the series - to help The Black Caps stretch their lead past 300 runs mark, heading into the final day. James Neesham and BJ Watling helped the stylish right-hander, who played a sheet anchor role, to put the visitors in command.
The 24-year-old made a 91-run partnership with Neesham, who made a 67-ball 53, and 79-runs stand with Watling (29) as Kiwis finished the day on 331 for seven, 307 runs ahead of West Indies, with Williamson (161 not out) and Mark Craig (4 not out) on the crease.
"All those blokes came out playing really positively and we were able to get a good rhythm in our partnerships," Williamson said. "It was an important thing and we kept scoring in each of those partnerships. They were all key contributions in the second innings so far."
West Indies pacers failed to pose much of a threat to the Kiwi batsmen with the old ball and they took the new ball as soon as it was available. Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach moved the new-ball and were soon rewarded.
The 26-year-old also completed 100 Test wickets in 26 matches for West Indies, when he got Watling plumb lbw in the 82nd over. Taylor also chipped in with one wicket towards the end, and sent Tim Southee (7) back in the hut.
"Reaching 100 wickets is definitely a big thing for me," Roach said. "That was my goal, to get there in 20 Tests, but 26 is as good, so I am glad to achieve that. Obviously, you want to perform at home for sure. To be able to do that in front of fans at home is great and I am grateful for that."
Rain in the fourth day left Kiwi skipper Brendon McCullum in dilemma on when to declare the innings as there is a possibility of rain on the final day. The highest winning total in Barbados is 311, which was chased by West Indies in 1999 against Australia.
The Barbados native praised Williamson for holding the Kiwi innings together and insisted that they will try to wrap up the innings on Day 5.
"He obviously is their best batsman in the team," Roach said. "He has been in good form and he is definitely hard to bowl at. Getting his wicket is always going to be a an (sic) even better feeling, so hopefully tomorrow we come out there fresh and try to knock them over."
The leading wicket-taker in the series pointed out the slowness of the Kensington Oval pitch and called it a "too flat" deck.
"It has been tough," he pointed out. "The wicket is too flat. Pretty hard to bowl on. But once you hit your areas, hopefully the batsman makes a mistake so you get some wickets."
Where to Watch Live
The 3rd Test Day 4 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. Catch ball-by-ball update of the match online 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 or 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.
