Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

New Zealand wicketkeeper BJ Watling has announced that his side’s bowling attack bowled well “without a lot of reward” during day two of the second Test against the West Indies in Trinidad.

The West Indies currently hold on to an 89-run lead thanks to centuries from Kraigg Brathwaite and Darren Bravo.

“We beat the bat a lot, [but] didn’t quite find the edges, and yeah, I mean that’s Test cricket for you,” Watling said. “They [West Indies] fought through the tough periods and cashed in.”

“They played well to put us under pressure, but we kept coming, and I think you can look at the last spell from Trent [Boult] and Tim [Southee], still ran in hard and put Shiv [Chanderpaul] under a lot of pressure there. Yeah, we’ll come back tomorrow and look to take five quick wickets and get out there and score some runs and put a target on the board.

“I thought Ish [Sodhi] bowled really well as well, landed the ball in some good areas. There was some turn out there today, but it’s only day two so it’ll only get better.”

Boult also succumbed to a slight fever, but managed to dismiss Brathwaite in one of the 17 overs he bowled throughout the course of the day.

“Yes, [he had a] little bit of a fever, I think, but I don’t know, he ran in there in the end and gave it his all, so it was good in the end to see our two spearheads running in at full tilt in the end,” Watling said. “That [Brathwaite’s wicket] was reward for Trent’s hard work as well.”

Watling also noted that New Zealand still have a lot to do, especially with Shivnarine Chanderpaul at the crease and captain Denesh Ramdin and debutant Jermaine Blackwood still yet to bat.

“We’ve got to keep doing the same things that we’re doing, stay patient, and obviously try and get Shiv out early there,” Watling said. “They’ve still got a couple of batters to come, so look, if we can get them out tomorrow reasonably early in that first session then we’ll look forward to spending some time in the middle with the bat.”

Watling also conceded that New Zealand batted well below par when they were bowled out for 221 in the first innings.

“We probably weren’t as disciplined as we’d have liked to be, we were definitely a hundred shy, a hundred and fifty shy on that wicket,” he said. “We’ve talked about the conditions out there being different again to Kingston so we have to adapt and adjust and come back in the second innings and put a good total on the board.”