KEY POINTS:
It was not pretty. No, scratch that. It was downright ugly, but no one who swears allegiance to the New Zealand flag would have cared as Tim McIntosh and Daniel Flynn ground out a century partnership that should put the home side in a position to win this test.
When bad light ended play four overs early, New Zealand had crawled to 145-2 from 68 overs. McIntosh was left 62 not out from 209 balls and Ross Taylor was on four.
Flynn battled his way to a second test half century on the bounce before falling for 57. It was hardly an innings to set the pulse racing, but he still played the hare to McIntosh's tortoise as the pair put on 118 for the second wicket.
The Auckland left-hander did not look comfortable until late in the day and survived a fielding howler by the West Indies but his 62 from 210 balls, which included a flurry from 24 to 50 - would seem to indicate he is made of the "right stuff".
Selector John Wright, who batted all day to score 55 on debut against England in 1978, would certainly have appreciated his commitment to crease occupation, if nothing else.
The only blight on the final two sessions was the continuing woes of Jamie How who is watching his average drop faster than the Dow Jones.
He left to the sort of dismissal that afflicts only the wretchedly unlucky or wretchedly out of form. At this stage How can lay claim to both.
Since his back-to-back half centuries at Lord's and Old Trafford in the winter, How has compiled 246 runs in 14 innings at an average of 17.5, with his overall average dropping into the 22s.
Imagine the mortification when he pulled a short ball from Fidel Edwards, from somewhere near the middle of the bat, right into the hands of Sewnarine Chattergoon at square leg. A couple of feet either side and he would have moved from 12 to 16 - though if he was to be completely honest with himself he would have recognised his fortune to survive an early Daren Powell over where he played and missed twice, should have been run out by short leg and survived a big lbw shout.
It would have come as no consolation to him to see Edwards and keeper Denesh Ramdin make a complete meal of a dolly when Mcintosh spooned up one of his curious shovel-pulls. Diplomatic relations between Trinidad (Ramdin) and Barbados (Edwards) were temporarily suspended as they both watched it drop, unmolested, on the popping crease.
McIntosh is not the sort of man that needs encouragement to keep batting, and batting, and batting.
Yesterday was one of those days where nothing came out of the middle for the opener.
If Daniel Flynn's bat sounded as if it were crafted from finest English willow, McIntosh's blade seemed carved from a teak forest in Karnataka. Instead of a "thwock" it gave out a "thwang".
As McIntosh's grind reached 150 balls with 24 next to his name, even cricket purists were given to thinking wistfully about the approach shot to the 17th at Bridge Pa that they could have been playing if they hadn't bought a ticket for the cricket.
Aside from the batsman himself, five other names come readily to mind of those who might have viewed it as beautiful: Andy Moles, Daniel Vettori, Glenn Turner, Wright and Dion Nash.
Because at 119-1 New Zealand had the sort of platform they have been seeking since, it seems, Adam was a boy. How aside, they didn't just blunt the new ball, they pulped it.
Coach Moles was suitably impressed.
"Those two set a base that our middle and lower order should be able to launch from," Moles said.
"There job is not finished yet as [McIntosh] needs to push on to a bigger score but he is well on the journey.
"Mcintosh, in his second test, has shown the mental approach needed for this position and was starting to flourish towards the end of the day, while Flynn continued to impress in the way he is handling the all-important No 3 role."
They also showed impressive resilience in batting bad light and drizzle, which sent them from the field for 50 minutes, just before 6pm.
After the resumption McIntosh pottered along to his 50, made from 181 balls, the last half of that coming in as many deliveries, breakneck pace in the context of his innings.
It was Flynn that had fallen into a rut and he eventually became Edwards' 100th test victim, a leading edge resulting in a caught and bowled that Ramdin had no chance of corrupting. Taylor entered at a difficult time but looked unperturbed by the gloom and persistent short-pitched bowling.
Earlier, the day had belonged to Iain O'Brien, who took test-best figures of 6-75. He said it was his best day of cricket, made even more special by "watching two guys [McIntosh and Flynn] play test cricket - genuine, proper, test cricket".
From humble beginnings, O'Brien has established himself as first seamer on the teamsheet and he's loving every second of it.
"That was as consistent as I've ever bowled. The pace was up there too. it was the quickest I've bowled in a continuous spell," he said, relishing the opportunity to bowl downwind and hit speeds in excess of 140km/h.
O'Brien described the wicket as a "not flat, but not a minefield either".
"It's a nicking wicket," he said, and Brendon McCullum would testify to that, having taken four catches off his bowling and five overall. '
New Zealand's aim now must be to post 400-plus and leave themselves as small a chase as possible in the final innings.
