New Zealand sealed a 2-0 victory on the final day of the series in Mount Maunganui
Jacob Duffy has taken 5-42 as New Zealand bowled out West Indies for 138 on a deteriorating fifth-day pitch to win the third Test by 323 runs and take the series 2-0.
Duffy surpassed Richard Hadlee’s New Zealand record of 80 wickets in a calendar year and finished the series with 23 scalps at an average of 15.4, including three five-wicket hauls.
“I saw that list at lunchtime and there were some cool names on there, so to be up there on any sort of list with those sort of names was special,” Duffy, who was voted Player of the Series, said of his bowling record on Monday.
The Black Caps’ win ended a series in which both teams had to cope with significantly depleted pace attacks and in which a slew of batting records fell.
The third Test was a feast for statisticians. Devon Conway made 227 and Tom Latham 137 in a 323-run opening stand in the Kiwis’ first innings of 8-575 declared. Conway then made 100 and Latham 101 in a partnership of 192 in the second innings before the hosts again declared at 2-306, leaving West Indies a target of 462 to win after being bowled out for 420 in their first dig.
Conway was the 10th Test player and first New Zealander to score a double-century and a ton in the same match and he and Latham were the first openers to score centuries in both innings of a Test.
Latham and Conway accumulated 515 runs across two innings, a record total for an opening pair. Latham also followed his father, Rod, by featuring in opening partnerships of more than 100 in both innings of a Test.
“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. It will take some time for me to get my head around what happened in this Test match,” Conway said, “but I’m really glad we got the win.”
Brandon King and John Campbell survived 16 overs and scored 43 before stumps on the fourth day at Bay Oval, leaving New Zealand needing to take all 10 wickets on the last day to win.
But both openers were out within five balls — King for 67 and Campbell for a dogged 16 from 105 balls — and that provoked a slump that saw five wickets fall before lunch.
Duffy then dismissed Roston Chase with a ferocious ball that reared to shoulder height from just short of a length, giving Glenn Phillips his third catch of the day.
Shai Hope batted 78 balls for three runs and was out lbw to give Ajaz Patel his third wicket of the day.
Kemar Roach (four) was bowled by a ball from Phillips which turned and took the inside edge.
Anderson Phillip and Tevin Imlach (15 not out) held out for 14 overs until Phillip (10) fell lbw to Rachin Ravindra. Duffy claimed his fifth wicket and ended the innings when he bowled Jayden Seales (0).
