Nah, Mark Craig bowled well. Yes the Windies have a rather poor batting lineup but he made a few decent batsman look rather average. A lot was made of his first class bowling average before the match (it was 45) but that has more to do with the conditions in NZ domestic cricket not his ability. He's tall, get's good bounce, was getting drift in that first innings and can give the ball a decent rip. He comprehensively outbowled Shane Shillingford for example. You could say maybe the actual batsmen could've attacked him more but that was nothing but pure slogging at the end their, could've easily ended before it started.
Don't necessarily disagree with you & as i said I don't want to make any sweeping statements on Craig after just one test. IIRC, Paul Wiseman took a 5-wicket haul on debut too vs a far better SRI team & at best he turned out to be a serviceable off-spinner at best for NZ - instead of world beater.
Overall though the main attack was on the Windies batsman & their style of test batsmanship which I see making the same mistakes repeatedly.
Don't argee with the talent level either. NZ have a better batting line up, bowling line up and one thing the Windies miss, an actual all rounder. I think they're missing a Neesham/Anderson type player.
This here comes down a matter of perception really.
NZ have a clear issue with its test openers. Fulton is poor & I've seen NZ fans on this forum before suggest Guptil is not a test player given his struggles in the role in the past. Rutherford hasn't done anything since his debut series hundred vs England & this is Latham first major test performances.
Gayle is still better than all of them.
Powell maybe in the same boat as Rutherford right now as a young talented opener that has not kicked on after starting positively. Lendl Simmons a talented opener has the similar "limited overs" tag on him like Guptil also. Kraigg Braithwate to be is on a similar skill level to Latham & you will probably see him this series to gauge your own assessment.
As young batting stars Lil Bravo & Williamson are about even, despite Bravo having the better average to date.
C'Paul better than Taylor as the two teams best batters.
McCullum better than Samuels, especially right with McCullum scoring that triple recently & Samules declining since his 2012 form.
In DW Bravo/Russell i do think they have all-rounders on the Anderson/Neesham level. Bravo would have played this test if not for injury. But the kiwi boys have the edge based on the current form & the aforementioned T20 issues reasons.
Ramdin/Watling pretty similar short keeper bats who are a difficult to get out. Although i think Watling is slightly more versatile bat than Ramdin, since i've seen him batting higher up the for NZ and look fairly comfortable.
But you guys have Ronchi as back-up & WI don't really have a notable back-up to Ramdin.
Windies have a clear spin bowlers edge.
The quicks stocks are interesting though: Southee/Bolt/Henry/Wagner/McClenegan/Bennett/Milne vs Taylor/Roach/Holder/Rampaul/Cotterell/Cummins/Gabriel (these are just the ones i've seen on both sides internationally or domestically).
Obviously Southee/Bolt are in top form ATM as the new all pair - but it shouldn't be forgotten that Roach/Rampaul was doing very well as new-ball pair for windies as well before injuries to both late last year. And this test match Taylor came back & reminded the world of his quality.
So i look their stocks both teams with two dangerous new-ball bowlers who have proven their selves at international level - with a set of talented fast bowlers behind him seeking to make their marks at the highest level.
