Conway 178* and Latham 137 grind West Indies to dust

Tom Latham brought up his 15th Test century (Getty Images)

Stumps New Zealand 334 for 1 (Conway 178*, Latham 137, Roach 1–63) vs West Indies

The Bay of Plenty lived up to its name, but only for New Zealand. Devon Conway and Tom Latham harvested a century apiece, and by the time they were done, they were having so much fun they barely let anybody else play.

West Indies could argue that was a bit rude. They were in Mount Maunganui looking for rich bounty as well: a first Test win on these shores in 30 years, which, if secured, would hand them a share of the series spoils. All of that cast them in the role of protagonists at the start of the day. But as time wore on and records — both trivial and tumultuous — came to pass, Roston Chase and his men faded into the background.

Each of the five previous Test matches at this ground had yielded a wicket in the first session. This one did not. Kane Williamson, so used to an early start at the office, had to wait longer than 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 bar the helmet, practising a rapid-fire series of leaves and blocks. There will be reels — split screens with Latham and Conway facing real cricket balls out in the middle and Williamson merely pretending to do so, with a caption asking who did it better. The answer is actually Terry Jarvis and Glenn Turner.

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. Here, he had a hunch about putting runs on the board. 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 into targeting his pads and manufacturing easy put-aways.

Latham’s 15th Test century — during which he went past 6,000 runs as an opener — was proof that fairy tales are not the only things that can come to life. Textbooks do too. It took until 6.30pm for Latham to fall on 137. Test cricket came close to having a fifth opening pair last the entire first day.

Conway played himself into form. Twenty-six of his last 39 innings had been cut short at or below the 30-run mark, which is not ideal considering his role at the top of the order is to set the whole team up. Given he was walking out on to a pitch with an unusual amount of grass — 13mm, when it is normally around 7–10mm — there was cause for concern. He put all that to bed, weathering an initial period in which West Indies were willing to concede only 11 runs in eight overs. He instigated the first period of New Zealand dominance, the six overs to the morning drinks break in which they scored at a run a ball.

He went on to bat for longer than he has at any point since his double century on debut at Lord’s four years ago.

The only way this day could have been worse for West Indies was if they had brought it all on themselves — and only the finest of lines separated that from what actually happened. They got what they wanted at the toss: first use of a surface that looked as though it had been left in the care of a kindergartener armed with a green crayon. The bowlers, though, did not make the best use of it. (ESPNcricinfo)