Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson rip through West Indies' top order

West Indies 42 for 4 (Brooks 8*, Blackwood 12*, Jamieson 2-4, Southee 2-14) trail New Zealand 460 (Nicholls 174, Wagner 66*, Gabriel 3-93, Joseph 3-109) by 418 runs

Wait until both teams have bowled before you judge a pitch. In this case, the old adage wasn't quite true, because it was evident right from the start of this Test match that this Basin Reserve track had everything a fast bowler could ask for: pace, bounce, seam movement. But it took until New Zealand bowled to make clear just how difficult batting on it could be, with their fast bowlers summoning up two things their West Indies counterparts had failed to find through 114 overs of toil: swing, and most importantly relentless, probing accuracy.

With Henry Nicholls extending his overnight century to a career-best 174, and Neil Wagner celebrating his 50th Test with a riotous maiden half-century, New Zealand clattered 166 runs in the first 30 overs of the day to post a daunting 460. Then Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson bagged the spoils of a brilliant, collective effort with the new ball as West Indies stumbled to 42 for 4 by tea on day two.

Southee searched for rhythm right through his first over, spraying balls down the leg side or too wide of off, and Kraigg Brathwaite only had to play at one of his six balls. That over proved to be the most misleading trailer to Southee and Trent Boult's new-ball masterclass. Ball after ball, the West Indies top order had to calculate whether to go forward or back, whether the ball would swing or go with its initial angle, and whether to play or leave, and given the lack of time in which to come up with a coherent response, they often ended up crease-bound and feeling hesitantly for the ball. To this add the effects of a pitch from which the odd ball sprang up to unexpected heights.

After Kraigg Brathwaite nicked a Southee outswinger to first slip in the third over, John Campbell and Darren Bravo spent 8.3 agonising overs at the crease - the lasting image of their partnership the sight of Campbell down on the floor after getting smacked on the groin by a Southee ball that swung back into him with extra lift off the pitch - before Bravo spooned a catch back to Southee.

Southee and Boult then gave way to Wagner and Kyle Jamieson, and there was no let-off in the pressure. Not in the least. Jamieson's first over took forever to finish, but only because of how good it was. Campbell drove at one slanting away from him and edged to second slip, before Jamieson produced the perfect first-ball yorker to bowl a stunned Roston Chase.

The next two balls produced massive lbw shouts. The first was a yorker, the other a low full-toss, both swinging into Jermaine Blackwood and possibly down the leg side. New Zealand burned a review with the first one, thrilled by the prospect of a hat-trick, and nearly burned another with the second, with ball-tracking returning an umpire's call verdict. At 29 for 4, though, who would blame New Zealand for their overexcitement?

There was no such feeling from the bowling side at the start of the day, with West Indies hoping to keep New Zealand down to a reasonable first-innings total. But Nicholls, Jamieson, Wagner and a rash of missed chances ensured they wouldn't.

New Zealand lost two wickets in the first session, both to Alzarri Joseph, who came on immediately after the drinks break and created chances with his angle from wide of the crease. Jamieson nicked to second slip, and Southee played on - much like BJ Watling on day one - while cramped for room by the angle and extra bounce.

Either side of that, though, it was all New Zealand, with Nicholls adding just 43 to his overnight score through the session, but holding the lower order together and shutting West Indies down entirely from one end. The luck that defined his batting on day one seemed to continue when he inside-edged Shannon Gabriel past his stumps early in the morning, but he grew increasingly fluent thereafter, picking up frequent singles and twos to the deep fielders square on both sides of the wicket, and unfurling some attractive strokes too, none better than a wristy on-drive off Joseph that bisected mid-on and midwicket.

Through the first hour, Nicholls had the company of Jamieson, whose eye, solid fundamentals, and height frustrated yet another Test attack - he came into this innings with scores of 44, 49 and 51* in his three previous innings at this level - with West Indies searching for the right lengths to bowl to him. He looked strong on the drive and untroubled by the short ball, and it took until the first over after drinks for Joseph to find the right length, straightening a delivery that tested Jamieson's tendency to drive balls on the up.

Three overs before that, Jason Holder had created another chance by inviting a back-foot punch away from the body, only for John Campbell to put Jamieson down at second slip. It was the first of three dropped catches in the session; Chemar Holder and Roston Chase later put Wagner down in successive overs, both at fine leg, off Gabriel and Joseph respectively, when he was on 20 and 21 respectively.

There was definitely some logic to West Indies' short-ball plan to Wagner, as evidenced by those miscued hooks, and a missed pull off Joseph that earned him a blow to the back of the helmet. But in between, the runs burst forth from Wagner's bat, some right off the sweet spot - such as a pulled six off Joseph and a baseball-style swat through midwicket off Jason Holder - and some off the edge, and West Indies lost any semblance of control they might have had earlier in the morning.

New Zealand kept rattling along after lunch, with both Nicholls and Wagner unleashing powerful drives to the cover boundary on their way to reaching their respective highest scores in Tests. Wagner brought up his maiden Test fifty off just 36 balls. The partnership - 95 off 73 - finally came to an end when Nicholls drove hard at Chase's offspin and was caught brilliantly by a diving Brathwaite at short extra-cover. Then Boult came in and fell third ball to another diving catch, from Shamarh Brooks at midwicket, but not before slogging Chase for a first-ball six over wide long-on.