West Indies' follow-on star

When New Zealand bowled West Indies out on the final day and left themselves with a target of 112, it appeared that a couple of firsts might happen in Test cricket: New Zealand had never won a Test after scoring more than 600, and a team had never lost a Test after one of their players had scored a double-century in a follow-on.

As it turned out, both those records stayed intact, thanks to the Dunedin rain. New Zealand have now passed 600 four times in Tests, and each of those matches have been drawn. Darren Bravo, meanwhile, became the seventh batsman to score a double-century in a follow-on; six of those have resulted in draws, while VVS Laxman's 281 ensured a remarkable turnaround and an Indian win in Kolkata. Bravo's 218 was the first such effort since Laxman's innings in 2001.

West Indies' 507 is the tenth-highest by any team after they've been asked to follow-on, but for West Indies it's their best. Their previous highest was 463 against India in Kolkata in 2011, a Test they ended up losing by an innings and 15 runs. They survived 162.1 overs in Dunedin, which is also their best in a follow-on situation, going past the previous record of 148.2 overs against England at Trent Bridge in 1957.

Much of the credit for West Indies' resistance should go to Bravo, whose 218 is the highest by a West Indian in a follow-on; the previous-best was in that Trent Bridge Test of 1957, when Collie Smith scored 168 in 416 minutes to take West Indies to safety. Incidentally, two of the four highest scores by a West Indian in a follow-on are by Bravo - he also scored 136 in Kolkata in 2011. In fact, Bravo has the second-highest aggregate among all West Indians in follow-on innings - only Chris Gayle with 380 runs in nine innings, has scored more than Bravo's 354 in two innings.

Along with Bravo, Darren Sammy played a key role too, taking up 145 deliveries to score 80 - it was the second-highest number of runs scored and balls faced by him in a Test innings. It was Sammy's sixth 50-plus score in this format, but only the second time in 59 innings that he faced more than 100 deliveries. He'd faced 156 deliveries to score 106 - his maiden Test hundred - at Trent Bridge last year, but the third-highest number of balls he has faced in an innings is 80.

The result was that West Indies' second innings lasted 162.1 overs, only the 11th time they've played more than 900 deliveries (150 six-ball overs) in the second innings of a Test. The last time they achieved this was in 2000, against England at Old Trafford, when they scored 438 for 7 in their second innings and saved the Test after being bowled out for 157 in the first.

For New Zealand, this extends their winless run in Tests, and Brendon McCullum has become their only captain to lead in ten or more matches and not win a single one. The last Test New Zealand won was also the last one before he took over, when New Zealand achieved a splendid 167-run win against Sri Lanka in Colombo, under Ross Taylor. Since then, in ten Tests they've drawn six and lost four, though they were desperately close to victory against England in Auckland earlier this year: needing 481 to win, England finished on 315 for 9.

If New Zealand don't win one of the next two Tests, it'll be the first time since 2007 that they haven't won a single Test in a year. In 2007, though, they played only two Tests; the last time they played at least ten Tests in a year and didn't win a single one was in 1995. In fact, it'll be only the third such occurrence in their entire Test history.