New Zealand’s miserable form in the Caribbean continued as they were bowled out for 260 on the first day of the second Test in Kingston, Jamaica, on Thursday.
Paceman Kemar Roach took four for 70 and fellow quick Tino Best chipped in with 2-40 as the West Indies removed the tourists for a modest score on a decent track at Sabina Park.
It was a poor batting display from the Kiwis, who had been 161-3 before a collapse, that leaves them with a real fight to avoid a whitewash in the two-Test series.
West Indies openers Chris Gayle and Kieran Powell had to negotiate five overs before the close and they reached 11-0 by stumps.
Darren Sammy won the toss and asked New Zealand to bat, and the West Indies skipper’s decision was rewarded with two early wicket, B.J. Watling (2) the first to go when he edged Roach to Gayle at slip.
Brendon McCullum (0) soon followed when he was caught behind off a fine delivery from Best, who was in for the injured Ravi Rampaul, leaving New Zealand struggling at 11-2.
Martin Guptill and skipper Ross Taylor got their heads down and put on a much-needed 103-run partnership, taking the sting out of the West Indies attack and proving that the track was comfortable enough to bat on.
Best, generating real pace, got the crucial breakthrough when Taylor (60) tried to cut a rising delivery and thick edged to Denesh Ramdin behind the stumps.
Guptill has been one of the few bright elements in a poor tour for the Kiwis, who were also convincingly beaten in the one-day series, and he moved on to his third consecutive half-century.
However, at the other end, Kane Williamson was teased into edging spinner Narsingh Deonarine to Sammy and then Dean Brownlie was caught behind off Roach.
The pressure was on Guptill to carry the innings, but attempting a second run, he found himself short of his ground as some fine fielding from Best ran him out for 71.
There were some aggressive shots from the tail as the tourists attempted to salvage a decent total at the end of their innings, but the West Indies head into day two trailing by 249 runs and with all their first-innings wickets intact.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite