Jerome Taylor, Benn restrict New Zealand to 221

The sight of the green surface at the Queen's Park Oval was a welcome change after the slow-and-low pitch in Sabina Park but it appeared there was not much of a 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 struggled to make impact.

However, just when it seemed it was slipping away, two wickets in the second session sparked a resurgence from 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.

Sulieman Benn, the lone spinner in the West Indies XI, 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 Latham scoring yet another half-century.

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 for the first time in Tests, 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 short mid-on.

In the third session, there were no let-offs as West Indies tightened their loose ends: 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 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, and even later. He was prepared to leave a number of deliveries outside off, a trait that also rubbed off on Rutherford, who had replaced Peter Fulton. Both batsmen refrained from pushing unnecessarily at deliveries to start with, until Rutherford's patience ran out.

Latham 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 a 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 18 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. Williamson, on 19, had been dropped by Chris Gayle at 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 stand, though, Williamson blinked, top-edging an attempted pull off 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, two overs before tea, the bowlers found their mojo.

New Zealand's seamers responded with prodigious swing, one such out-swinging full delivery from Trent Boult taking Gayle's off stump late in the day, raising hopes of a counter from the visitors on day two.