Hamilton (New Zealand): The second day of the first cricket test between New Zealand and the West Indies belonged to Kane Williamson.
The New Zealand captain, whose actions and decisions shaped the day, scored 251, his third double century and highest score in tests, before making an assertive declaration at 519-7 early in the final session.
Williamson's innings came to an end 14 runs before his declaration but he courteously waited for Kyle Jamieson to complete his maiden half century before calling his batsmen in at 4.25pm, with around 26 overs left in the day.
At stumps the West Indies, depleted by minor injuries to batsman Darren Bravo and wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich, were 49 without loss. Bravo has a sprained ankle and Dowrich an injured hand.
Openers Kraigg Braithwaite (20) and John Campbell (22) batted doggedly through the late afternoon to ensure the tourists went to stumps with all 10 wickets intact.
Most of the day was a process of ticking off milestones for Williamson who steadily built his innings and played New Zealand into a more dominant position than it could have hoped when it lost the toss Thursday and was sent in.
After the day's play yesterday and looking at the surface, we were pretty happy finishing with only a couple of wickets down because both teams were pretty keen to bowl first, Williamson said.
There was a bit of movement there and a bit of fortune goes your way.
We were able to build those partnerships throughout the innings to get a really competitive first-innings total. But there's a bit of work to do. The Hamilton wicket tends to keep flattening out so there's a big job for the bowlers to do.
The West Indies bowlers produced a much better performance than on the first day when, perhaps over-excited by the chance to bowl on a pitch which blended into the outfield, they missed their lengths and allowed Williamson and Tom Latham to form a 154-run partnership for the second wicket.
That allowed Williamson to reach 97 by stumps when New Zealand was 243-2.