The sight of the green surface at the Queen's Park Oval was a welcome change after the slow-low pitch in Sabina Park but it appeared there was not much change in the script.
New Zealand chose to bat, lost an early wicket, then Tom Latham and Kane Williamson laid anchor and put on a century stand as West Indies' bowlers, apart from Jerome Taylor, struggled to make impact.
However, just when it seemed it was slipping away, two wickets late in the second session sparked a resurgence from the West Indies. New Zealand, after being 159 for 3 at tea, capitulated to lose their last seven wickets for 62 runs in a dramatic last session that saw their innings fold to 221.
Sulieman Benn, the lone spinner in the West Indies squad, trapped Brendon McCullum plumb in front with the second delivery after tea.
That wicket set the tone as the bowlers applied relentless pressure from both ends and forced batsmen into false shots. Jimmy Neesham slashed a Jerome Taylor delivery to first slip, BJ Watling offered a loose poke soon after to be caught behind and then Ish Sodhi was caught at slip too, all in the space of seven runs.
Ross Taylor scratched around for an 80-ball 45, but his stay lacked conviction as a bulk of his runs came through iffy shots. As he stood circumspect in the middle, he witnessed helplessly the disintegration of the innings that had started promisingly with Tom Latham scoring yet another half-century.
New Zealand's seamers responded with prodigious swing, one such out-swinging yorker from Trent Boult taking Chris Gayle's offstump late in the day, raising hopes of a counter from the visitors on day two.
Jerome Taylor, playing his first Test series since 2009, was the pick of the West Indies bowlers with a probing spell of 4 for 34 and although he lacked the same level of support in the first half of the day, the other three bowlers rallied behind him later.
The turnaround happened when Latham, who had looked set to breach the 100-mark, edged a Kemar Roach delivery to gully at the stroke of tea, ending a 163-ball innings during which he had showed no signs of flinching in his concentration.
The remaining overs in the session produced nervous moments for the batsmen; Ross Taylor was reprieved off the last two balls of the session from Roach, first by Denesh Ramdin, who didn't go for a thick outside edge, then by Kirk Edwards, who dropped a simple chance to his left at silly mid-on.
In the third session of the day, there were not let-offs as West Indies tightened their loose ends: Kemar Roach upped his pace, Jerome Taylor bowled fuller lengths and got the ball to move away, Benn kept the batsmen on their toes with his arm-ball, Gabriel firmly stood at the door preventing an escape and all catches were swallowed by the fielders.
The way the innings finished must have left the bowlers wondering what could have been had they not been lax in the first half of the day.
Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach used the conditions to their advantage, getting the ball to swing and seam with decent bounce, but all West Indies had to show for the effort was one wicket - that of Hamish Rutherford. Then followed a period of New Zealand dominance, led by Latham, which threatened to take the game away from West Indies.
Latham, impressive during his twin half-centuries in the first Test, was unfazed during that testing first period, or even later.
He was prepared to leave a number of deliveries outside off, a trait that also rubbed off on Rutherford, who had come into the Test in place of Peter Fulton. Both batsmen refrained from pushing unnecessarily at deliveries to start with. Until, Rutherford's patience ran out.
Rutherford pushed at three out of his last four balls, was beaten twice, and edged the last one to Chris Gayle at first slip. The wicket came in the ninth over, just after it had seemed the initial storm had been weathered.
There was no such lapse from Latham, who continued playing a compact game. His first boundary - a classical off-drive past the non-striker - came off the 32nd delivery he faced, in Gabriel's first over. Twice, when he appeared in trouble against rising deliveries, he still managed eight runs with couple of controlled guides through gully.
Ramdin opted for spin in the 16th over and Benn, with his height, posed a threat with the appreciable bounce he extracted. Latham was untroubled, using a solid front-foot defence to smother most of those deliveries.
The runs came easily off the seamers at the other end and Latham went on to reach his third successive half-century of the tour, in 83 balls. Seventy-one runs came in the 16 overs just before lunch, a far cry from the slow start to the innings.
Both Williamson and Latham stuck to the same template in the second session, playing out five consecutive maidens before opening up. After being tested a bit by Benn and Taylor, the two took the score past 100 in the 36th over.
The two bowlers however had shown during their spells that their was still some bounce on the pitch to cause problems for the batsmen. Williamson, on 19, had been dropped by Chris Gayle at first slip off Benn in the first session and in the second, Latham survived a tough chance on 58 as a thick edge off Benn didn't stick in Ramdin's gloves.
Soon after the two batsmen had put up a century of the stand though, Williamson blinked, top-edging an attempted pull shot off Shannon Gabriel to fine leg.
That wicket buoyed Gabriel, who had been ordinary otherwise as he sent down a few probing overs. Then as Latham fell, three overs before tea, the bowlers found their mojo.
Tea New Zealand 159 for 3 (Ross Taylor 17*, McCullum 4*, Jerome Taylor 1-15) v West Indies
The sight of the green surface at the Queen's Park Oval was a welcome change after the slow-low pitch in Sabina Park but it appeared there was not much change in the script.
New Zealand chose to bat, lost an early wicket, then Tom Latham and Kane Williamson laid anchor to put on a century stand as West Indies' bowlers, apart from Jerome Taylor, struggled to make impact.
However, just when it seemed it was slipping away, two wickets late in the second session redressed the balance.
Latham, who had missed out on his maiden Test ton twice in the last Test, failed to make amends and fell 18 short of the landmark yet again.
The dismissal came 10 minutes before tea when Latham drove loosely at a Kemar Roach delivery and was caught at gully, ending a 163-ball innings during which the batsman had showed no signs of flinching in his concentration.
The next few overs in the session produced some nervous moments for the batsmen; Ross Taylor was reprieved off the last two balls of the session from Roach, first by Denesh Ramdin, who didn't go for a thick outside edge, then by Kirk Edwards, who dropped a simple chance to his left at silly mid-on.
The last few minutes were more in sync with how the day had started. If there was any moisture in the pitch, it only showed its effect in the early part of the innings when the New Zealand openers made slow progress to 15 off eight overs.
Taylor and Kemar Roach used the conditions to their advantage, getting the ball to swing and seam with decent bounce, but all West Indies had to show for the effort was one wicket - that of Hamish Rutherford. Then followed a period of New Zealand dominance, led by Latham, which threatened to take the game away from West Indies.
Latham, impressive during his twin half-centuries in the first Test, was unfazed during that testing first period, or even later. He was prepared to leave a lot of deliveries outside off, a trait that also rubbed off on Rutherford, who had come into the Test in place of Peter Fulton. Both batsmen refrained from pushing unnecessarily at deliveries to start with.
The ones that swung into the left-handers were dealt with a straight bat, while the ones that angled away were repeatedly left alone. Until, Rutherford's patience ran out.
He pushed at three out of his last four balls, was beaten twice, and edged the last one to Chris Gayle at first slip.
The wicket came in the ninth over, just after it had seemed the initial storm had been weathered. There was no such lapse from Latham, who continued playing a compact game. His first boundary - a classical off-drive past the non-striker - came off the 32nd delivery he faced, in Gabriel's first over.
Twice, when he appeared in trouble against rising deliveries, he still managed eight runs with couple of controlled guides through gully.
Ramdin opted for spin in the 16th over and Sulieman Benn, with his height, posed a threat with the appreciable bounce he extracted. Latham was untroubled, using a solid front-foot defence to smother most of those deliveries.
The runs came easily off the seamers at the other end and Latham went on to reach his third successive half-century of the tour, in 83 balls. Seventy-one runs came in the 16 overs just before lunch, a far cry from the slow start to the innings.
Both Williamson and Latham stuck to the same template in the second session, playing out five consecutive maidens before opening up. After being tested a bit by Benn and Taylor, the two took the score past 100 in the 36th over.
The two bowlers however had shown during their spells that their was still some bounce on the pitch to cause problems for the batsmen. Williamson had been dropped by Chris Gayle at first slip off Benn in the first session and in the second, Latham survived a tough chance as a thick edge off the spinner didn't stick in Ramdin's gloves.
Soon after the two batsmen had put up a century of the stand though, Williamson blinked, top-edging an attempted pull shot off Shannon Gabriel to fine leg. That wicket buoyed Gabriel, who had been ordinary otherwise as he sent down a few probing overs. Then as Latham fell, three overs before lunch, there was a shift in energy.
Lunch New Zealand 86 for 1 (Latham 51*, Williamson 23*, Taylor 1-10) v West Indies
During the first Test in Jamaica, there had been comments from the West Indian camp about the lack of support for the bowlers from the Sabina Park pitch. Therefore, the sight of a green pitch at Queen's Park oval with some moisture underneath must have been a welcome change.
Denesh Ramdin, leading the side for the second time, responded with a reshuffle of the squad, bringing in 22-year-old Jamaican batsman Jermaine Blackwood while also adding a pacer in Shannon Gabriel, were asked to bowl but the scoreline at the end of the first session was much worse for the home team than it was in the first Test.
For the first hour, Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach used the conditions to the advantage, getting the ball to swing and seam with decent bounce but all West Indies had to show for the effort was one wicket - that of Hamish Rutherford. In the second hour
Tom Latham, impressive during his twin half-centuries in the first Test, was unfazed during that testing session. He was prepared to leave a lot of deliveries outside off, a trait that also rubbed on to Rutherford, who had come into the Test in place of Peter Fulton.
Only 15 runs came in the first eight overs as both batsmen refrained from pushing unnecessarily at the deliveries. The ones that swung into the left-handers were dealt with a straight bat while the ones that were angled away were repeatedly left alone. Until, Rutherford's patience ran out.
Rutherford pushed at deliveries thrice in his last four balls, was beaten twice, and edged the last one to Chris Gayle at first slip. The wicket came in the ninth over, just after it had seemed the initial storm had been weathered. Rutherford's impatience may have failed him, but there were no such signs from Latham, who continued playing a compact game and reaped rewards.
His first boundary - a classical off drive past the non-striker - came off the 31st delivery he faced, in Gabriel's first over. Twice, when he appeared in trouble against rising deliveries, he still managed eight runs with couple of controlled guides through gully.
Ramdin opted for spin in the 16th over and Sulieman Benn, with his height, did pose some threat with the appreciable bounce he extracted. Latham though was untroubled, using a solid front-foot defence to smother most of those deliveries. The runs came far easily of the seamers at the other end too and Latham went on to complete his third successive half-century of the tour, in 83 balls. Another solid outing.
Benn came close to picking up a wicket too as Williamson couldn't control a cut shot and sent an edge flying towards Gayle's shoulder, but the fielder, surprised by the bounce as much as the batsman, couldn't hold on. It was the 24th over and Williamson was on 19 at that stage.
Two overs later, the lunch was called and New Zealand went back with the upper hand.
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