{"id":194896,"date":"2025-12-21T13:01:22","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T13:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/194896\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T13:01:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T13:01:22","slug":"black-caps-v-west-indies-new-zealand-set-visitors-462-for-victory-as-tom-latham-devon-conway-plunder-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/194896\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Caps v West Indies: New Zealand set visitors 462 for victory as Tom Latham, Devon Conway plunder records"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the second time in as many innings<\/a>, New Zealand\u2019s scorecard was built on Latham (101) and Conway (100) – making it the first time one set of openers have both scored two centuries in the same test.<\/p>\n

While they couldn\u2019t replicate their colossal first innings of 323, New Zealand\u2019s first wicket pair added 192 more runs in just 242 deliveries and set the platform for the Black Caps\u2019 declaration. No openers in test cricket history have scored more in a test than Latham and Conway\u2019s combined 515.<\/p>\n

\"TomTom Latham and Devon Conway celebrate their century stand against the West Indies at Bay Oval. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

Conway became the first Kiwi – and 10th player ever – to score a double-century and century in the same game, after also adding a career-best 227 in the first innings<\/a>. What\u2019s more, with 327 runs in the match, only Stephen Fleming (343) and Martin Crowe (329) have made more in a single test than Conway. <\/p>\n

At the other end, Latham reached 100 for the 16th time in tests, extending his record for the most centuries by a New Zealand opener, with his third hundred of the series. <\/p>\n

As further cause for celebration in the Latham household, Tom being involved in two successive century opening stands saw him emulate his father Rod, who achieved the same feat against Zimbabwe, alongside Mark Greatbatch in 1992. <\/p>\n

With a first innings haul of 4-86 to help wrap up the West Indies in the morning, Jacob Duffy will be expected to lead the seamers on day five, with 18 wickets already to his name this series. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, having waited seven years to take a first test wicket on home soil<\/a>, Ajaz Patel finished the first innings with 3-113, and looms as New Zealand\u2019s key on a pitch that\u2019s already shown it will offer both turn and variable bounce.<\/p>\n

Despite the situation, though, the West Indies can bank on the fight they showed on the final day in Christchurch <\/a>to open the series. <\/p>\n

This pitch, though, will only become more treacherous to bat on, and with vital World Test Championship points on the line, it\u2019s hard to picture a reality where the visitors pull off two great escapes in the space of three tests.<\/p>\n

Resuming at 381-6, and boosted by the availability of both Shai Hope and Kemar Roach – previously absent with illness and a hamstring injury respectively – the West Indies\u2019 first innings was wrapped up before lunch, leaving Kavem Hodge stranded with an unbeaten 123.<\/p>\n

\"JacobJacob Duffy celebrates a wicket on day four of the third test between the Black Caps and West Indies. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

Ahead by 155, Latham and Conway saw off a tricky period before lunch to reach the break at 35-0, before taking the attack to the West Indies in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

After reaching 35-0 at lunch, the Black Caps\u2019 lead swelled in the afternoon, as the openers plundered 157 runs in just 28 overs. Latham and Conway needed just 127 and 136 balls to reach their respective hundreds, compared to 183 and 147 from day one. <\/p>\n

Latham\u2019s innings saw him hit nine boundaries and two sixes, while Conway found the fence eight times, and cleared it thrice more. Conway raced from 25 at the lunch break to his seventh test hundred, but perished in the first over after tea, when he was excellently caught by Jayden Seales on the midwicket boundary.<\/p>\n

A reverse-swept four off Hodge\u2019s bowling took Latham into the 90s, before a push out to deep point saw the captain to triple figures again, before he too departed courtesy of an outstanding catch on the midwicket fence at 235-2, and ahead by 389 runs. <\/p>\n

Once Kane Williamson (40 not out) and Rachin Ravindra (46 not out) added 72 runs in only 37 balls, Latham decided New Zealand had enough, and asked the West Indies to negotiate a tricky close. <\/p>\n

After they added 111 together in the first innings, the West Indies\u2019 openers got to stumps without any great scare. <\/p>\n

Campbell\u2019s two runs came off 50 balls, as a sign he\u2019s in for the long haul, while King\u2019s 37 came off 46 deliveries, with 28 of them coming in boundaries.<\/p>\n

New Zealand 575 & 306-2 declared (Latham 101, Conway 100; Hodge 2-80)<\/p>\n

West Indies 420 & 43-0 (King 37 not out, Campbell 2 not out)<\/p>\n

West Indies need 419 runs for victory<\/p>\n

Alex Powell<\/a> is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the second time in as many innings, New Zealand\u2019s scorecard was built on Latham (101) and Conway…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[120800,20306,806,7022,42574,53735,82401,2082,28523,106549,117,111,43,139,69,1532,120801,25622,9090,1551,5134,8982,9717,3807,80],"class_list":["post-194896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-120800","tag-alex","tag-as","tag-black","tag-caps","tag-conway","tag-devon","tag-for","tag-indies","tag-latham","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-oval","tag-plunder","tag-powell","tag-records","tag-set","tag-tom","tag-victory","tag-visitors","tag-west","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}