Quote:They simply have no choice. If the West Indies are to convince the cricket world that they are making real progress, they have to give a good account of themselves against New Zealand. The Caribbean side have to show that recent good performances against Pakistan, England and Zimbabwe were not just instances of over-achievement that teams sometimes experience before reverting to their usual ineptitude. They need to show that what happened in England, especially, was no fluke. Rather, it’s an indication that West Indies cricket is now on an upward trajectory and is at last climbing out of the mire in which it was grounded for a long time.

Challenging the New Zealanders in their own surroundings won’t be easy. It never is. The West Indies have never had things their own way there, not even during the glory days of the 1980s. And the last time they triumphed there was way back in the 1994-95 series. This unit, however, is an improving one, and has exhibited the kind of character that will facilitate them overcoming tough opposition and tough conditions.

Could they have faced more foreboding prospects than they did on the eve of the Leeds Test a few months ago? They were flattened in the first Test in Birmingham, humiliated by the grotesque margin of an innings and 209 runs. Save, perhaps, for an unbeaten 79 in the first innings by Jermaine Blackwood, there was nothing positive they could have pointed to as a sign of hope for the remainder of the series. Rightly, they were castigated all round, and the lament that cricket in the Caribbean was slouching towards a slow and painful passing, filled the airwaves.

It is to their great credit then, that Jason Holder and his team were able to cast all that mental anguish aside and rise to an improbable victory in Leeds. It was a scarcely believable performance. But so convincing were players like Shai Hope, Kraigg Brathwaite, Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel and Holder that one got the feeling they could do it again if they tried.