CRICKET-PREVIEW Chase believes Windies’ performance in first Test gives them the edge.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand, CMC – West Indies Test captain, Roston Chase, is of the view that his side is heading into the second Test against New Zealand “on top” after their heroics in last week’s drawn opening Test at Christchurch.

Given 531 to win, the West Indies batted almost two days in one of the best displays in Test history, to reach 457 for six, the highest total in the fourth innings of a Test match in 84 years.

With the second Test scheduled to begin here on Wednesday, Chase said that performance had given the regional team a significant boost.

“The guys have settled well, and I think the Test match that we played is going to give us a lot of confidence going forward in this series knowing that we can compete and come close to almost having a chance of winning in the first Test match, so the guys’ spirits are high right now,” he said during a pre-match press conference on Tuesday.

“Everyone seems raring to go, full of confidence and energy to prove that we can actually go a step further and win.

“I don’t want to say that we’re favourites now, but coming out of that last game, I think we would have ticked more boxes than them and come out of the game with more positives than them, so I would say that we’re on top right now.”

Despite their spectacular play in the fourth innings, Chase maintained that the West Indies needed to put bigger scores on the board in the first innings.

He said if they were able to do that, it would put them in a better position to win.

“The main topic we spoke about is our first innings, because we find that in these New Zealand conditions, the first innings is usually the more challenging part, where, usually in Test cricket, the second innings is the more difficult part to bat.

“But with the green on the wicket and the way the ball is nipping around, we think that once we can get a decent total in the first innings, it would put us closer to the point of winning a match,” Chase said.

“We just think that we need to shut down that lead from early, and once we put the New Zealand batsmen under pressure in the second innings, we’ll be fine.”