Toss New Zealand opt to bowl vs West Indies
“Traditionally, every captain’s looked to bowl here but when we come over here we try to work out the pitch,” Latham said. “It gets better to bat here later on though.
“The wicket looks green so we have to bat well,” Roston Chase said. “We will have to be watchful and play well from a good length.”
The pitch at the Basin Reserve usually wears an emerald-green hue with plenty of grass covering at the start of Tests, but this one appeared milder in colour, suggesting better batting conditions in the first hour.
The last time New Zealand fielded a Test XI in which no bowler had 50-plus Test wickets was also against West Indies (in Kingston, 2012) – the first Test featuring all three of Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Neil Wagner.
Apart from the first Test’s eventual result, West Indies will also have their tail up heading into Wellington, where New Zealand have lost their last two Tests by heavy margins: by 323 runs to England and by 172 runs to Australia, both in 2024.
New Zealand: 1 Tom Latham (capt), 2 Devon Conway, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Rachin Ravindra, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Mitchell Hay (wk), 7 Glenn Phillips, 8 Zakary Foulkes, 9 Blair Tickner, 10 Jacob Duffy, 11 Michael Rae
West Indies: 1 John Campbell, 2 Brandon King, 3 Kavem Hodge, 4 Shai Hope, 5 Roston Chase (capt), 6 Justin Greaves, 7 Tevin Imlach (wk), 8 Kemar Roach, 9 Jayden Seales, 10 Anderson Phillip, 11 Ojay Shields
