New Zealand's Hamish Marshall(second right) and Jamie How (right) celebrate their victory over the West Indies in Wellington yesterday.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (CMC):
THERE WERE no heroic rearguard efforts, while persistent overnight and early morning showers offered only a brief respite for a West Indies team that quietly subsided to a 10-wicket defeat just before tea on the fourth day of the second Test against New Zealand at the Basin Reserve yesterday.
The loss of an hour's play to the elements at the start of the day proved inconsequential, with the tourists, resuming at 118 for four, eventually dismissed for 215 in the second innings.
Their only consolation was in avoiding an innings defeat, although by the time the Black Caps' openers knocked off the 36 runs needed for victory on a heavily overcast day, the reality of a record eighth consecutive Test defeat for the Caribbean side might just have dawned on Shivnarine Chanderpaul's beleaguered side.
Never before have the West Indies lost eight matches in a row in the nearly 78 years since entering the Test arena.
UNBEATABLE LEAD
At the other end of the scale, New Zealand's win, which gives them an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the series ahead of the final Test in Napier, extended their Test winning streak to five matches, the longest in this remote nation's history.
The trouncing of the tourists was also only the fourth time they had romped to a Test win by a 10-wicket margin.
Facing the depressing prospect of a ninth Test series whitewash in eight years, the visitors were at least given some good news when head coach Bennett King confirmed that Fidel Edwards would be fit to play in the tour finale starting on Saturday.
Despite being on a hat-trick after ending the New Zealand first innings with wickets off consecutive balls, the pacer did not take the field for the brief second innings.
King explained after the match that it was merely a precaution to prevent Edwards further aggravating a left ankle injury that he has been carrying since the final One-Day International at Eden Park more than two weeks ago.
However, he revealed that it was not yet clear that Jerome Taylor would be fit again for consideration for the third Test, while Dwayne Bravo's side strain has finally been determined as to be so serious that not only will he be unavailable to bowl at McLean Park, but will only be able to play as a batsman for Trinidad and Tobago in next month's final stages of the regional first-class competition.
However, any chance of the all-rounder's batting lifting the gloomy mood in the West Indies camp ended within 20 minutes of play getting underway on the fourth morning as the right-hander mistimed an attempted hook off Chris Martin to give Nathan Astle a simple catch at square-leg.
Chanderpaul, who has been fighting his own battles with form and his team's increasingly woeful performances in recent months, would not have had his mental state improved on seeing how new batsman Denesh Ramdin attempted to cope with the challenges of facing Daniel Vettori.
MISTIMING
Dismissed playing an ill-advised sweep shot late on the fourth evening of the first Test in Auckland, the wicketkeeper-batsman was almost bowled first ball and then, incredibly, mistimed another full-blooded sweep that lobbed just out of the reach of James Franklin at short fine-leg.
Ramdin attempted to curb his indiscretions after those narrow escapes, but the guile of the left-arm spinner proved too much for him and he was left bewildered when he pushed forward to Vettori and looked back to see his off-stump knocked back on the stroke of the lunch interval.
At 156 for six and still needing another 24 runs to make New Zealand bat again, the odds still favoured the West Indies forcing a fourth innings in the match.
Those odds dwindled, however, when Chanderpaul gave Fleming his sixth catch of the match at first slip as the 31-year-old followed a lifting delivery from Kyle Mills.
The captain had battled for more than three hours, but his dismissal further fuelled debates about the pressures of captaincy on his batting in light of it being his 12th Test innings without getting at least to a half-century.
The ever-willing Ian Bradshaw stuck it out with Rawl Lewis, who brought a few smiles to generally sad West Indian faces with a series of well-timed drives and pulls.
The pair put on 26 runs for the eighth wicket, ensuring the New Zealand openers would have to pad-up again, before Bradshaw gave Franklin his second wicket of the innings and seventh of the match via a second slip catch by Scott Styris.
Darren Powell hung around with Lewis while another 21 runs were added until he sliced a drive off Mills low to Jamie How at gully.
Attempting to crash a succession of boundaries to a reach a first Test half-century, Lewis was last out for 40, caught by Astle running in off the cover boundary to give Mills the best bowling figures of the innings at three for 29.
Man of the Match Fleming got the additional satisfaction of being the first New Zealand captain to enjoy two Test series victories against the West Indies.
SCOREBOARD
WEST INDIES 1st Innings 192 (R. Morton 63; J. Franklin 5-53)
NEW ZEALAND 1st Innings 372 (S. Fleming 97; F. Edwards 5-65, D. Powell 4-83)
WEST INDIES 2nd Innings (overnight 118 for four)
S. Chanderpaul cFleming b Mills 36
D. Bravo c Astle b Martin 7
+D. Ramdin b Vettori 7
R. Lewis c Astle b Mills 40
I. Bradshaw c Styris b Franklin 2
D. Powell c How b Mills 7
F. Edwards not out 0
Extras (w6, nb11) 17
TOTAL (all out) 215
Fall of wickets: 1-54, 2-75, 3-84, 4-113, 5-129, 6-156, 7-163, 8-189, 9-210.
Bowling: Martin 27-8-65-2, Franklin 21-8-64-2, Mills 9.5-2-29-3, Astle 13-4-17-1, Vettori 20-4-40-2.
NEW ZEALAND 2nd Innings
H. Marshall not out 23
J. How not out 9
Extras (nb4) 4
TOTAL (without loss) 36
Bowling: Powell 4.2-1-20-0, Bradshaw 4-0-16-0.
Result: New Zealand won by 10 wickets.
Umpires: D. Harper, M. Benson, TV Replays: A. Hill.
Match Referee: M. Procter.
Man-of-the-Match: Stephen Fleming (New Zealand).
WEST INDIES 1st Innings 192
(R. Morton 63; J. Franklin 5-53)
NEW ZEALAND 1st Innings 372 (S. Fleming 97; F. Edwards 5-65, D. Powell 4-83)
WEST INDIES 2nd Innings (overnight 118 for four)
S. Chanderpaul cFleming b Mills 36
D. Bravo c Astle b Martin 7
+D. Ramdin b Vettori 7
R. Lewis c Astle b Mills 40
I. Bradshaw c Styris b Franklin 2
D. Powell c How b Mills 7
F. Edwards not out 0
Extras (w6, nb11) 17
TOTAL (all out) 215
Fall of wickets: 1-54, 2-75, 3-84, 4-113, 5-129, 6-156, 7-163, 8-189, 9-210.
Bowling: Martin 27-8-65-2, Franklin 21-8-64-2, Mills 9.5-2-29-3, Astle 13-4-17-1, Vettori 20-4-40-2.
NEW ZEALAND 2nd Innings
H. Marshall not out 23
J. How not out 9
Extras (nb4) 4
TOTAL (without loss) 36
Bowling: Powell 4.2-1-20-0, Bradshaw 4-0-16-0.
Result: New Zealand won by 10 wickets.
Umpires: D. Harper, M. Benson, TV Replays: A. Hill.
Match Referee: M. Procter.
Man-of-the-Match: Stephen Fleming (New Zealand).
