WELLINGTON: Neil Wagner was twice on a hat-trick to take career-best figures of 7-39 Friday, helping New Zealand dismiss the West Indies for 134 on the first day of the first cricket test.
The West Indies reached 59-0 before losing all 10 wickets for 75 runs in the face of Wagner's onslaught of accurate, short-pitched bowling.
The last wicket partnership of 29 between Kemar Roach (14 not out) and Shannon Gabriel (10) made the collapse less severe.
New Zealand was 9-0 at tea with Tom Latham 6 and Jeet Raval 3.
After losing the toss and being asked to bat on a green pitch at the Basin Reserve, West Indies openers Kraigg Brathwaite (24) and Kieran Powell (42) had looked completely comfortable in their 90-minute partnership for the first wicket of 59.
But Wagner removed Brathwaite with a bouncer for his first wicket, which was a prototype for most of the rest, and that began a collapse which was only broken by the lunch break.
The West Indies lost three wickets in the half hour before lunch and two more to successive deliveries from Wagner immediately after the break. That included Sunil Ambris who suffered the indignity of being out hit wicket for a golden duck to the first ball of his test career.
Wagner went on to dismiss West Indies captain Jason Holder for a first ball duck, one delivery after he had removed Roston Chase. He twice had the chance of a hattrick but wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich survived the first hattrick ball and Kemar Roach the second.
Trent Boult chipped in 2-36 — the wickets of Powell and Miguel Cummins — and Mitchell Santner effected the run out of Dowritch whose 18 was the best effort by a West Indies batsman after the openers.
Wagner has applied the leg theory with incredible success in the latter part of his test career. By continually digging short-pitched deliveries into the ribs of the batsmen, occasionally surprising them with a fuller delivery or one that rises more sharply than the rest, he has found a tactic which opponents find it difficult to counter.
Though well-grassed, the pitch gave little assistance to the bowlers on Friday. It didn't seam, its pace was uniform and the bounce wasn't extraordinary. In spite of warm conditions, the ball didn't swing and without that assistance, Wagner's barrage of short-pitched deliveries became the most effective tactic.
Brathwaite, his first victim, was caught close in on the leg side by Henry Nicholls when he fended a ball off his ribs to the short-leg fieldsman.
Powell's impressive innings, which featured a series of well-struck straight drives, was ended by Boult who surprised the batsman with a shorter delivery outside off which he had to play and could only edge to Raval at third slip.
Wagner removed Shimron Hetmeyr with the last ball before lunch, extracting steep bounce which forced the batsman to spar at the ball defensively as he tried to sway away. It took the bat and carried to Tom Latham at second slip.
Shai Hope fell to the second ball bowled by Wagner after lunch, as he completed his sixth over. Hope played at a ball which was short outside the leg stump and gloved a catch to Tom Blundell, giving the debuting wicketkeeper the first catch of his test career.
Ambris' dismissal to the first ball of Wagner's next over was most unfortunate for a batsman on debut. He had taken a step inside his crease, expecting a short ball from Wagner and moved back further on playing his shot, stepping on the base of the stumps and dislodging the bails.
Wagner then removed Chase and Holder with successive deliveries to expose the West Indies tail and to complete his fifth five-wicket bag in tests.
After the run out of Dowrich and the removal of Cummins by Boult, Wagner ended the stubborn last-wicket partnership between Roach and Gabriel for his seventh wicket of the innings.