Quote:The Windies were in a desperate position. New Zealand responded to their very inadequate 134 with 509 for 9 declared. The lead was therefore a daunting 375, meaning that the visitors' chances of drawing the game were slim, their chances of winning, non-existent.

With the events of the first innings still fresh in mind, every viewer knew the real battle began when Neil Wagner was handed the ball for the 16th over. The two openers, Kraigg Brathwaite and Kieron Powell had made a reasonably good start. But they had started well in the first innings as well, before Wagner came and dramatically undid all the good work they had done with his blistering short-pitched assault.

Would the Caribbean side crumble before him again, or would they adjust their tactics and improve their execution and stage a fightback?

Inevitably, there were a few early scares for the batsmen. Wagner went immediately to his short-ball tactics but they attacked him more and more purposefully this time round, and their slightly altered approach paid off. Powell, especially, was keen to go after the left-arm pacer, even pulling him for two sixes. But then, shortly afterwards, the left-hander got out rather tamely to Henry, patting a simple catch back to the bowler. He is a good-looking player, upright and elegant, especially when driving down the ground. But, too frequently does he allow the opposition an easy wicket. Too frequently is he the victim of soft dismissals.

Shimron Hetmyer is 20, almost 21. When the West Indies under-19 team triumphed at the youth World Cup in 2016, he was captain and one of their premier batsmen. Thrown in at three in the order, unfairly some argue, he stumbled against Pakistan in the Caribbean earlier this year and lost his place. Reinstated for this series he started off with an ungainly dismissal, fending off a Wagner bouncer in the first innings, and he had a few awkward moments, again against Wagner's short-pitched deliveries, at the start of his innings.