The scorecard will record it as a draw. The historians might footnote it as the second highest fourth innings total in Test cricket history. But what unfolded over ten sessions in Christchurch was something far more elemental: a naked demonstration of everything corrupt and everything sacred about this battered old format.

Let us dispense with the technicalities first. New Zealand posted 231 and 466 declared. West Indies crumbled to 167 in their first innings, then faced a target of 531 runs. When Justin Greaves walked in at 72 for 4, bookmakers would have offered better odds on Christchurch Cathedral spontaneously combusting than this match seeing a fifth afternoon. What followed wasn't merely unexpected. It was Test cricket as manifesto.

Greaves batted 564 minutes. He absorbed 388 deliveries. He watched partners come and go, then found an unlikely foil in tailender Kemar Roach, who stonewalled 233 balls for 58 runs. They defied logic, probability, and eventually, New Zealand's entire attack. Of the seven players in history to score double centuries in fourth innings pursuits, none came from a team supposedly as bankrupt in Test pedigree as modern West Indies.

And herein lies the first layer of deception peeled raw by this performance. For years, administrators have peddled a convenient fiction that West Indies don't care about Test cricket. Yet here stood Greaves, playing his seventh Test match at age 32 having spent 15 years grinding through domestic leagues, embodying the exact opposite. Here stood Roach, whose entire tenure coincides with West Indies' lowest Test ebb, compiling the most important runs of his life when a draw served no ranking points or financial bonus.

Contrast this with the New Zealand declaration. Set 531 to win, West Indies weren't chasing victory. New Zealand knew this yet refused to set up the game. Their declaration came midway through day three, allowing generous wiggle room rather than aggressive finality. Preservation trumped ambition. This wasn't captain Tom Latham's failing so much as it was modern cricket's pathology. Boards demand Test results when lobbying against franchise leagues, then actively reward timid cricket through championship points systems prioritizing series wins over spectacular heists.

Second contradiction: while boards mourn Test cricket's supposed decline, they systematically ensure only certain nations can afford to compete in it. Consider the West Indies lineup that took the field. Five players made their Test debuts over the past 18 months. Coordinator of cricket Jimmy Adams admitted they could only afford one warm up match before this tour. Their domestic first class competition shrunk to six matches per team last season. Yet these players suspended reality across two days through sheer force of will.

Contextualise Greaves' knock against West Indies' financial reality. Cricket West Indies earns less annually from broadcast deals than Rohit Sharma does from personal endorsements. During the first Test, Cricket Australia announced a domestic T20 tournament expansion guaranteeing minimum AU$420,000 contracts. Greaves himself was released by Barbados two years ago and currently averages 18 in first class cricket. Test cricket rewards systemic investment yet expects miracles from poverty.

Third revelation: the format's detractors ignore its unparalleled capacity for technical revelation. Modern batting suffers from binary obsessions boundary hitting or blocking. Greaves offered masterclass in nuanced survival, scoring only 21 boundaries in 202 runs. He manipulated strike, defended 62% of deliveries without becoming inert, and accelerated only when Roach needed protection. It was batting as chess.

Roach's contribution deserves its own monument. Since making his Test debut in 2009, the fast bowler has watched West Indies lose 65 of 123 Tests. He averages 12 with the bat. Yet for 233 balls, he became Vishwanathan Anand in pads. Consider also that West Indies fielded no specialist spinner, a move akin to storming Normandy without rifles. New Zealand conversely deployed three frontline seamers including debutant Nathan Smith, who left the field injured, amplifying cricket's deepening injury crisis from endless scheduling.

Let us not romanticise this draw as proof that Test cricket can continue unchecked. What this match truly revealed is the format's fragility. Rain loomed over day five. New Zealand lost two bowlers mid Test. Without those variables, the narrative collapses. But we witnessed Test cricket operating exactly as designed when given oxygen. The fifth day saw 28,000 fans attend, higher than many Ashes days.

The brain trust will ignore the lessons. Even now, the Caribbean Premier League negotiates to expand its window while next year's Test calendar remains incomplete. New Zealand will license another T10 league before prioritising Test player retention. Meanwhile in Christchurch, an underpaid, underprepared team from a broken system fought as if their lives depended on it. Perhaps they understood something the accountants don't. Test cricket isn't dying. It is being murdered in meetings chaired by men counting bills instead of balls.