Neil Wagner yesterday rated his career-best seven-wicket haul a “horrible” performance as New Zealand seized the honors on the first day of the first Test against the West Indies in Wellington.
However, as the West Indies licked their wounds after being rolled over in the first innings for 134, they believed they are only one wicket away from getting back into the match.
“The big wicket is Ross Taylor. If we can get him early tomorrow morning, anything’s possible,” West Indies coach Stuart Law said.
Photo: AFP
Taylor was not out 12 with Jeet Raval on 29 as New Zealand reached 85-2 at stumps — 49 runs in arrears after Wagner ensured the West Indies were dismissed cheaply.
The South Africa-born left-armer, a fiery short-ball specialist, claimed 7-39 and was twice on a hat-trick as he bettered his previous best of 6-41 against Zimbabwe last year, but it was an innings-destroying performance that Wagner did not see coming after the West Indies, sent into bat, comfortably reached 59-0.
“It was a bit of a bizarre day to be honest. I sort of got a bit worried at one stage, they were looking quite comfortable,” Wagner said. “The pitch was not doing as much as we expected and I felt horrible to be honest. At the start I just felt like I didn’t have a great rhythm. I think I’ve bowled a lot better on other days and not get a wicket, and then you get days like this and you end up getting a seven-for ... things don’t really tick, but wickets just keep falling and it’s a just bizarre thing.”
Law described the West Indies batsmen as being “all bitterly disappointed” with their effort, but believed they were still in the match.
“I know we’re a lot better than what we performed like out there today,” Law said. “It’s one of those things, we tend to have habit of not starting a series very well, but by no means are we dead and buried in this contest. A 100 lead or 150 sounds lot, but I believe if we put our minds to it that’s a pretty good batting wicket coming into day three and day four.”
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
RSS