Conway-Latham stand headlines Day 1 on a Bay Oval green-top

Mount Maunganui in Bay Oval rolled out one of those classic New Zealand pitches - indistinguishable in colour from the lush outfield. A green strip of doom for anyone looking to bat time. Tom Latham however, chose not to be hoodwinked by the appearance of the 22 yards and took it upon himself and his team to bat first. Roston Chase gleefully accepted his opposite number's perceived bravery, hoping for his army of impressive fast bowlers to make early incisions. To their credit, they got the ball to move off the pitch and in the air, beating the bat of Latham and Devon Conway multiple times in an engaging first half hour. But on a sunny morning, the opening pair saw off the early nip and dug their heels into what eventually turned into a desultory effort from the visitors.

West Indies have endured many humbling days of Test cricket in recent times, but Thursday doubled down and sapped them out, both morally and physically. After the first eight overs, where pacers mixed up their lengths well and beat the outside edge of both the left-handers' bat repeatedly, West Indies experienced a sharp vicissitude of fortunes - created by the erring quicks who couldn't keep up the pressure. The rest of the morning session was chanceless as Conway and Latham locked in for what was about to become a long alliance. They took New Zealand to 83/0 in the first session, and notched up their fifties on the other side of the Lunch intermission. Conway's came in an over from Roach where he tormented the pacer by driving a full ball down the ground, swivel-pulling a short ball through mid-wicket and punching a full toss straight for the third boundary. Latham, who carted Anderson Phillip for a six over fine-leg, got to his fifty three overs after Conway did. A brief rain break forced the players indoors. But even the 20 minutes of regrouping wasn't enough for West Indies to successfully course-correct.

Play resumed and the New Zealand pair casually picked up from where they left off and soldiered on. West Indies lost control completely in the middle session, bowling 29 overs without a maiden in them. Latham and Conway, who'd made 83 in 28 overs in the first session, managed 133 in the second in 29. Boundaries came more easily in this period as Chase looked out of depth and options. Against the spinner, Conway brought up his hundred - sixth in Tests - by on-driving a tossed up full delivery.

The only real break in his concentration came when a Jayden Seales delivery kicked off from length and struck him on his left forearm. But even that was shaken off with a little bit of magic spray from the physio. Chase went back to the leader of his bowlers - Roach, towards the end of the second session but the batters remained unwavered heading to the break.

On the other side of Tea, Roach posed a few questions by beating Latham convincingly but that didn't come with a reward. Latham instead, went on to get to his century - 15th in Tests - through a boundary off Roach. Between the 61st and the 70th over, there were only two where West Indies didn't concede a single boundary. To add to West Indies' chagrin, wicketkeeper Tevin Imlach spilled an opportunity when Phillip got Latham to edge one behind.

Shortly before the new ball was due, the pair brought up the 300. West Indies didn't take it right away, waiting till the 84th over. Once they did though, Roach finally found a way through - getting a ball from round the stumps to straighten and fly off the outside edge of Latham's willow. It took a diving low catch from Chase at first slip to conjure the only wicket of the day after Latham and Conway had posted the joint-12th highest opening partnership in Test history worth 323 runs. Conway meanwhile, went to stumps at 178 - an asterisk still intact beside his score, offering a potential to turn it into a double ton on Friday.

Brief Scores: New Zealand 334/1 (Devon Conway 178*, Tom Latham 137; Kemar Roach 1-63) vs West Indies