Windies ‘A’ bowlers steady, but Bracewell and Seifert defy them

After the break, the hunt for wickets continued for West Indies ‘A’ and they snared two scalps before the New Zealanders reached 160 for three at tea.

Keemo Paul, whose all-round skills were not required by the senior Windies team in Wellington and flew over on Thursday for this match, struck in the seventh over after lunch, when he bowled Chapman for 45, ending a 70-run stand for the second wicket with Seifert.

The Caribbean side met further defiance, when Bracewell joined Seifert and they comfortably put on 51 for the third wicket.

But Allen broke the stand, when he had Seifert caught at backward point about 20 minutes before tea.

After tea, West Indies ‘A’ continued to bowl steadily, and Allen struck about 35 minutes after the break, when lefthander Jimmy Neesham was caught at deep midwicket for 10.

Any hopes of the Windies ‘A’ bowlers bagging a few more wickets before stumps was put to bed, when Rachin Ravindra, not out on 30, came to the crease and batted close to an hour and a half to put on 77 – unbroken – for the fifth wicket with Bracewell to steady the ship for the Black Caps reserves.

West Indies ‘A’ trail 0-1 in the twomatch series, after they crashed to an innings and a 143-run defeat in the first Test, which ended this past Saturday at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui.

The visitors made three changes to their line-up from that match with Seales, Paul and off-spinner Rahkeem Cornwall, another member of the senior squad who flew into the city for the match, replacing injured pacers Raymon Reifer and Oshane Thomas, and senior team international Test newcomer, Joshua da Silva.