Wagner bags career-best seven wickets as Windies crumble

Sports

wellington: New Zealand's Neil Wagner took a career-best seven-wicket haul to orchestrate a stunning collapse as West Indies slumped to 134 all out on day one of the first Test in Wellington today.

Twice in the innings Wagner took two wickets in successive balls, and the renowned short-ball specialist showed there was more in his armoury when he bowled West Indies captain Jason Holder with a genuine yorker.

Boult came back for his second spell and removed Powell, the tourists' top scorer with 42, before Wagner hit a purple patch as he ripped through the West Indies' new generation of specialist batsmen in the space of four balls.

Shimron Hetmyer went for 13 in the last ball before lunch, Shai Hope went on Wagner's second ball after play resumed and debutant Sunil Ambris stepped back on his stumps with the first ball he faced in Test cricket.

Hope, the hero of the West Indies triumph over England with a century in each innings at Headingley in August, provided the first Test dismissal for Tom Blundell, on debut for New Zealand, when he feathered a short ball to the wicketkeeper.