Mount Maunganui: Captain Roston Chase hopes that a bonding session over an early Christmas dinner will give West Indies the festive spirit to beat New Zealand in the must-win third and final Test starting on Thursday at Mount Maunganui.
The visiting side trails 0-1 after being thrashed by nine wickets last week in Wellington and has not won in its previous seven Tests.
The first Test at Christchurch ended in a draw.
“Guys had some time to reflect,” Chase said on Wednesday of the heavy defeat at the Basin Reserve. “We had a bit of a chat, and we had a team bonding session, a Christmas dinner. Just enjoying each other’s company.”
Chase called the unusually green Mount Maunganui wicket “a bit shocking” after an initial assessment.
“Looking at it, I don’t think there will be much spin,” Chase said. “I think seam will be more dangerous on this wicket.”
Fast bowler Ojay Shields will miss the Test through injury, with batter Alick Athanaze returning to the XI in his place.
Chase said he backs his four remaining seam options to do the job, and that he is prepared to bowl more overs of spin if the pitch does indeed take turn. He’ll also lean heavily on all-rounder Justin Greaves, who Chase suggested could be a “complainer” at times, but always gave his all with the ball.
Greaves scored 202 not out in the first Test to rescue the West Indies from defeat.
“He will say stuff and act like he doesn’t want to put in that extra effort,” said Chase. “But when he gets there, and I call on him, he’s always more than willing to work.”
New Zealand captain Tom Latham said his team is yet to settle on its line-up, with the same question marks about the pitch.
Either 37-year-old spinner Ajaz Patel or 24-year-old uncapped seamer Kristian Clarke will play, depending on the shades of green Latham sees on Thursday morning.
“The games that we’ve played here in the past, we’ve tended to see that spin’s played a little bit more of a part than what it has around the country at different venues,” he said.
“So we are going to have a look at it in the morning, whether we do go with that extra spin option.”
Latham said he was confident in either player, praising the experience Ajaz brought to the squad and the form Clarke had shown in first-class cricket. Clarke has a first-class bowling average of 32 and scored his first List A century this season.
Ajaz has 85 Test wickets, including being just the third person in Test history to claim 10 wickets in an innings — 10-119 against India in Mumbai in 2021. Ajaz has never taken a wicket in New Zealand. Agencies
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