Gayle's speed, and Watling's stonewalling

Stats highlights from the Trinidad Test, which West Indies won by ten wickets to level the series 1-1

21-Jun-2014

BJ Watling provided some resistance in the lower-middle order, West Indies v New Zealand, 2nd Test, Trinidad, 4th day, June 19, 2014

West Indies' ten-wicket win was their first Test victory against a team other than Bangladesh or Zimbabwe since August 2012, when they beat New Zealand in Jamaica by five wickets. Their last eight Test wins, dating back to October 2011, have all been against New Zealand, Zimbabwe or Bangladesh. West Indies' last win against a side other than these three was in May 2011, against Pakistan in Providence.

In successive Tests, West Indies have had two batsmen scoring fifties in under 30 balls, in the process becoming the fastest to the mark for West Indies. In Jamaica, Shane Shillingford struck 50 off 25 balls - the second-fastest in Test history - in a lost cause; in Trinidad, Chris Gayle scored one off 28 balls, the joint second-fastest by a West Indian, as they romped to their fourth-inning target of 93 in 13.2 overs.

Gayle ultimately finished with an unbeaten 80 off 46 balls, scoring at a strike rate of 173.91, the fourth-best in a Test innings of at least 30 balls. The top four are all from New Zealand or West Indies - Tim Southee leads with a 40-ball unbeaten 77, followed by Viv Richards (110 not out off 58) and Chris Cairns (82 off 47).

If Gayle's knock was one of the fastest, then BJ Watling, New Zealand's wicketkeeper, did a superb stonewalling job, even if it was ultimately in vain. His unbeaten 66 consumed 216 balls, which means his strike rate was 30.55. There have been only four slower innings of 150 or more deliveries by a New Zealand wicketkeeper, and one of those was by Watling: against South Africa in 2013, he scored 41 off 151 balls, a strike rate of 27.81. Earlier this year, Watling had demonstrated his stonewalling abilities against India too, scoring 124 off 367 balls in Wellington with a strike rate of 33.78. The slowest by any New Zealand wicketkeeper was Robbie Hart's 57 not out off 221 balls (strike rate 25.79), also against West Indies, in Barbados in 2002.

Mark Craig's 67 took all of 167 balls, the longest innings - in terms of balls faced - by a New Zealand No. 10 batsman, and the fourth-longest by a No. 10 batsman from any team: Pakistan's Saqlain Mushtaq faced 167 balls too to score an unbeaten 32 against England in 2000. In terms of runs scored, it was the third-highest at that position for New Zealand.

Gayle put the finishing touches for West Indies, but the hard work was done by the other batsmen in the first innings, with Kraigg Brathwaite scoring his maiden Test hundred, and Daren Bravo getting a century too. The last six such displays by West Indies have all been against New Zealand, Zimbabwe or Bangladesh. The last time two West Indian batsmen scored hundreds in the same innings against another opposition was at Trent Bridge in May 2012, when Marlon Samuels and Darren Sammy scored centuries.

In ten previous Tests, Brathwaite had scored only 415 runs at an average of 21.84. His highest in 19 previous innings was 68.

Along with their batsmen scoring runs, West Indies' victory was also set up by their new-ball bowlers: Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach returned combined figures of 11 for 242 in the match, with each claiming a four-wicket haul - Taylor took 4 for 34 in the first innings, while Roach claimed 4 for 74 in the second. This was only the fifth time in the last ten years that West Indies' new-ball bowlers have taken more than ten in a match. The last such instance was also against New Zealand, in North Sound in 2012, when Roach and Ravi Rampaul took 11 for 211. West Indies won that Test by nine wickets.

Mark Craig Kemar Roach Jerome Taylor Chris Gayle BJ Watling New Zealand West Indies West Indies vs New Zealand New Zealand tour of West Indies

S Rajesh is stats editor of ESPNcricinfo. @rajeshstats