New Zealand Openers Rewrite Test Milestones Versus West Indies

Cricket action
Tom Latham and Devon Conway have established a formidable advantage for their team.

Final Test, Mount Maunganui (the fourth day of five)

  • New Zealand 575-8 dec: Conway 227, Latham 137 and 306-2 dec: Latham 101, Conway 100
  • West Indies 420: Hodge 123 and 43-0

New Zealand's Tom Latham and Devon Conway made history by becoming the initial opening pair in Test match history to score centuries in both innings of a match, leaving the West Indies a massive 462-run target for victory.

Latham scored 137 and 101 in this series decider, while Conway built upon his mammoth 227 in the first innings with a precise 100 in the second.

The partnership had put on a colossal 323-run stand in the first innings, totaling 515 runs overall—a new record for the highest aggregate an opening pair in a Test.

Furthermore, Conway became just the 10th batter in Test history to achieve a double hundred and a hundred in the same match.

He emulated legends like Greg Chappell, Sunil Gavaskar, Graham Gooch, Brian Lara, and Kumar Sangakkara in accomplishing this notable feat.

Game Situation

Earlier on day four, the Windies were bowled out for 420, trailing by 155 runs, before Latham and Conway returned to bat.

Along with knocks from Kane Williamson (40) and Rachin Ravindra (46), the New Zealand top order propelled their side to 306-2 before a declaration, setting the visitors a near-impossible target of 462 to win and square the series.

At the close of play, West Indies openers had reached 43-0, with John Campbell showing great patience to score two runs from 50 balls, while Brandon King made 37.

Andrea Bishop
Andrea Bishop

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