HAMILTON, New Zealand, (CMC) – Jermaine Blackwood has showered praise on tail-ender Alzarri Joseph whose maiden Test half-century inspired the century stand which helped West Indies stave off a three-day defeat in the opening Test at Seddon Park on Saturday.

The pair came together when captain Jason Holder perished for eight in the final session at 89 for six and proceeded to defy New Zealand’s five-pronged seam attack with a 107-run, unbroken seventh wicket partnership which propelled West Indies to 196 without further loss at the close taken at 7:07 pm (2:07 am Saturday, Eastern Caribbean time).

Blackwood top-scored with an attacking unbeaten 80 off 98 balls while Joseph, though solid in defence, proved equally adventurous in an unbeaten 59 off 73 deliveries.

“When Alzarri came to the crease I was just telling him to play his natural game and try to bat as long as possible,” Blackwood told reporters afterwards.

Alzarri Joseph (left) and Jermaine Blackwood leave the field at the close of day three following their century stand.

“When he came in [he said] ‘I’m going to stay here with you’. I batted two balls and hit them in the air and after that I said ‘no, I’m going to stay here with Alzarri and bat’ because he takes pride in his batting and also in his fielding so it’s good to see that he came out and batted the way he did.

“I’m also pretty proud of myself as well [with] the way I [went] about things today. I mixed it today with a bit of aggressiveness and then tried to get a good [a shot] selection as much as possible.”

The day proved a testing one for West Indies batsmen with the Black Caps seamers finding swing in conditions which were sometimes overcast.

Tim Southee picked up four wickets in the first innings while Kyle Jamieson and left-armer Neil Wagner finished with two apiece as West Indies were rolled over for 138 in their first innings, after resuming the day on 49 without loss.

Following on by a massive 381 runs, West Indies slumped to 27 for four before tea after Wagner snatched two more wickets to wipe out the top order, but Blackwood and Joseph came together in their defiant stand to frustrate the hosts.

“You can commend the New Zealand bowlers for the way they bowled the new ball as well but if I’m going to mark our batsman hard I think some of us got out a bit too easy – me as well – in the first innings,” Blackwood assessed.

“Some of the players they know that, so I guess they’re going to come back and work on that in the next Test.”

Blackwood, who made 23 in the first innings, said there were not many adjustments required in technique despite the volatile weather.

“It’s not many changes [to make] to be honest. If you can take a page out of Kane Williamson’s book, I think he played the ball very late when the sun was hot or when [it was overcast] so I guess our batters know that,” he explained.

“I guess for sure next Test you’re going to see a better effort from the batting unit going forward.”