A Christchurch classic: West Indies carve out a fourth-innings Everest

West Indies held out New Zealand for 163.3 overs in the fourth innings to secure a famous draw in the first Test in Christchurch.

A Herculean batting effort

457/6 by West Indies is the second-highest ever fourth-innings total in Test cricket history. The only higher total was England's 654/5 against South Africa in a timeless Test in Durban in 1939.

Highest fourth innings totals

163.3 overs batted by West Indies is the ninth-longest fourth innings in terms of balls faced. It is only the second instance this century of a team batting 160+ overs in a fourth innings, behind Pakistan's 171.4 overs against Australia in Karachi in 2022.

Justin Greaves etches his name in history

7 Greaves became only the seventh batter to score a double century in the fourth innings of a Test. He is the first to do so batting at No. 6 or lower. Four of those seven double-centurions are from West Indies.

Double hundreds in the fourth innings

3 Greaves is only the third player batting at No. 6 or lower to score a double-century in a team's second innings (the 3rd or 4th innings of a Test). Don Bradman (270 at #7 in 1937) and Jason Holder (202* at #8 in 2019) are the others.

2 Greaves is only the second player to score a double hundred in the second innings after being dismissed for a duck in the first innings, emulating South Africa's Dudley Nourse (231 in 1935).

2 Greaves became only the second batter to be involved in two 150+ partnerships in a Test fourth innings. He shared stands of 196 with Shai Hope and an unbroken 180* with Kemar Roach. Sunil Gavaskar (1979) is the only other player to achieve this.

A partnership for the ages

180* The unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 180 between Greaves and Roach is the highest ever for the seventh wicket or lower in a Test fourth innings. It eclipses the previous record of 160* between Manoj Prabhakar and Sachin Tendulkar at Old Trafford in 1990. The partnership lasted 409 balls, also a record for the seventh wicket or later in a fourth innings.

138 Roach needed 138 innings to register his maiden Test fifty – the longest wait in history. Only James Anderson (131), Ishant Sharma (126), Glenn McGrath (115), and Kagiso Rabada (110) have taken 100+ innings to reach their first Test fifty.

At 37 years and 155 days, Roach became the fourth-oldest player to score a fifty and take a five-wicket haul in the same Test.

Oldest to the double of 50 & a five-fer in a Test

21 This was the first drawn Test in New Zealand in 21 matches, the last being against England in Hamilton in December 2019.