Duffy, Ajaz rip through West Indies as New Zealand seal series 2-0

Credit: ESPNcricinfo

New Zealand 575 for 8 dec (Conway 227, Latham 137, Ravindra 72*, Greaves 2–83) and 306 for 2 dec (Latham 101, Conway 100, Hodge 2–80) beat West Indies 420 (Hodge 123*, King 63, Duffy 4–86) and 138 all out (King 67; Duffy 5–42, Ajaz 3–23) by 323 runs.
Did New Zealand take too long to declare? Had the pitch broken up enough to make batting in the fourth innings as difficult as forecast? Was this Kane Williamson’s final Test at home?
Doubt filled the air as an absorbing series eased into its final day, only to dissipate in the wake of a West Indies collapse. Eight wickets fell for 25 runs after the morning drinks break, with Jacob Duffy (5 for 42) overtaking Sir Richard Hadlee’s record for the most wickets in a calendar year for the Black Caps, and bumping Trent Boult off the top spot for damage done in a single home series.
West Indies slid from 87 for 0 to 112 for 8 and were eventually dismissed for 138, with Shai Hope exemplifying their state of mind – out to a full toss without playing a shot, making 3 off 78 balls.
The Bay Oval is unique. It hosts the only surface in New Zealand that is best for batting early and turns increasingly treacherous as the match wears on. The wear and tear was so profound that, instead of a single solid block, the pitch resembled a mess of broken plates, wobbling under the light roller or even the gentlest touch. It fascinated everyone, including the home players. Daryl Mitchell was even moved to do that thing most people do to check if something is real – he pinched it and confirmed he was not dreaming.
So the spinner brought in specifically for this Test was given centre stage. Ajaz Patel, so often peripheral to New Zealand’s needs at home, was generating 15.8 degrees of turn. That was part of the reason Hope thought he was safe against a ball delivered from well wide of the crease. Ordinarily, it might have pitched and spun away harmlessly, but the crosswind caught it – as Ajaz had intended, having looped the ball at around 70 kph all game – and it careered into the right-hander’s front toe.
It took an age for New Zealand to review. Only one second remained on the clock when Tom Latham was reminded that the ball struck Hope on the full, meaning the projection from the point of impact becomes a straight line. With Ajaz’s angle from around the wicket and no shot offered, lbw was in play. Ball-tracking took another age, but when it finally appeared, it showed three reds.
New Zealand had engineered the dismissal with smart field placements too. Hope was crowded: slip in, two silly points, two short covers. They had already seen him defend full tosses, so were encouraged to bring the field up and make the batter worry that even a firmly hit defensive shot could go straight to hand. That is why Hope chose to leave. He thought he was being sensible. He did not realise he had been cornered – though it was made explicit. “This is hallway cricket,” they chirped, as the walls closed in.
Brandon King made an enterprising half-century, but from there West Indies’ scorecard unravelled, with eight straight single-digit scores, including Roston Chase’s 5 off 26. The captain ended the tour with 42 runs at an average of seven. Even had he been in form, he might not have been able to protect himself, as his dismissal – caught fending at second slip – came from an accurate bowler extracting vicious bounce from a length. Duffy was the perfect weapon for New Zealand. They had only truly wised up to him in August, and four months later he finished the series with more than twice as many wickets as his nearest competitor (23 to 10).
And it was not simply a case of banging the ball into the pitch and waiting for it to misbehave. Alick Athanaze’s wicket highlighted Duffy’s intelligence as a leader of the attack. He began by testing the batter’s back-foot play, using natural variation and exploiting the up-and-down bounce. But that was not how he wanted him – just where. Once Athanaze was pinned to his crease, Duffy slipped in the fuller delivery and nicked him off as he moved forward.
Duffy and Ajaz bowled nearly 70% of New Zealand’s overs in the final innings. The left-arm spinner went unchanged from the moment he was introduced on day five, returning figures of 29–18–23–3. Together, they were irresistible.
New Zealand took the series 2–0 and climbed to second place on the World Test Championship table. Later in the evening, they will part ways with Williamson, who has already hinted that he will not be with the team in India in January. “There’s a pretty large block away from the group as well, and there’ll be more conversations had,” he said on Sunday.
On Monday, he celebrated a hard-earned Test victory. On Thursday, he will enjoy Christmas with his family. Beyond that, his future appears uncertain. He may already have played his final Test match at his home ground. (ESPNcricinfo)