Big Picture
West Indies came to Christchurch having lost each of their last five Tests, and having last won a Test in New Zealand in 1995. They seemed set to lose again. Then came the most audacious of efforts: they batted for 26 minutes shy of 12 hours – or nearly two full days – in their second innings, even raising hopes of chasing down an unthinkable 531 against a depleted New Zealand attack, despite having reeled at 277 for 6 at one point.West Indies will have their tail up going into the second Test in Wellington, where New Zealand have lost their last two Tests by big margins: by 323 runs to England and by 172 runs to Australia, both in 2024. The hosts have a long injury list, with Matt Henry and Nathan Smith out of the rest of the series and wicketkeeper Tom Blundell out of the second Test, with Mitchell Hay set to debut on Wednesday. They have, however, been bolstered by the returns of Glenn Phillips and the now-fit Daryl Mitchell, while Kyle Jamieson gets closer to Test-match fitness in the Plunket Shield.
As their rejigged pace attack tries to find its bearings in Wellington, New Zealand will also hope their batters can fire as a collective. Tom Latham and Rachin Ravindra scored centuries in the second innings in Christchurch when the conditions had flattened out, and Kane Williamson returned to Test cricket with a 52 in the first innings, but there were no other 50-plus scores in either innings. New Zealand would especially want their less-experienced batters to also step up and not leave all the heavy lifting to the big names.
West Indies have even less experience, with only three members of their squad – Shai Hope, Roston Chase and Kemar Roach – having played more than 30 Tests each. But they’re making something of a habit of throwing surprise parties on the road. Their lower order did it in Multan earlier this year, Shamar Joseph (currently injured) did it at the Gabba in 2024, and debutant Kyle Mayers did it with a double-century in Chattogram in early 2021.
Christchurch only continued that trend. Can West Indies sustain that magic through the rest of this three-match series?
Form guide
New Zealand DWWWL (last five matches, most recent first)
West Indies DLLLL
In the spotlight
Twenty-five-year-old Mitchell Hay from Canterbury will get his New Zealand Test cap on Wednesday, having already debuted in T20Is and ODIs over the last 13 months. He has an ODI 99* against Pakistan to his name as well as the T20I record for the most dismissals in an innings, with five catches and a stumping against Sri Lanka in Dambulla. He boasts a first-class average of 48.58, with 1895 runs in 29 games including a century and 17 fifties. If he can bring that level of performance to the top level, New Zealand will have the ideal back-up for Blundell, who turned 35 this year.In his last match before this tour, John Campbell scored his maiden Test hundred in Delhi, a second-innings 115 full of authoritative sweeps and slog-sweeps. He has endured a difficult time on this tour so far. He followed scores of 4, 4 and 26 in the ODIs with a 68 in the warm-up game before the Tests, but he only managed 1 and 15 in Christchurch, where he was caught in the slips in both innings. West Indies will hope for more from the opener in Wellington.
New Zealand are set to replace Michael Bracewell, who bowled 55 second-innings overs in Christchurch, with Glenn Phillips•AFP/Getty Images
Team news
New Zealand will be forced to make at least three changes to their XI, with Blundell, Henry and Smith all out injured. They have called up right-arm quicks Kristian Clarke and Michael Rae to their 14-man squad, which also includes the returning Phillips and Mitchell, who fielded as a substitute in the first Test but wasn’t available for the whole game. Captain Tom Latham has confirmed that Phillips will come into the XI for Michael Bracewell, who sent down 55 overs in the second innings in Christchurch. Mitchell, meanwhile, could slot in for Will Young in the middle order while Blair Tickner and either Clarke or Rae come in for the injured fast bowlers.
New Zealand (probable): 1 Tom Latham (capt), 2 Devon Conway, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Rachin Ravindra, 5 Will Young/Daryl Mitchell, 6 Mitchell Hay (wk), 7 Michael Bracewell/Glenn Phillips, 8 Zak Foulkes, 9 Kristian Clarke/Michael Rae, 10 Blair Tickner, 11 Jacob Duffy.
Shai Hope had an issue with his eye in the first Test and is “back to normal,” according to West Indies captain Roston Chase. West Indies may not feel the need to tinker too much with their combination, though they could bring in the tall Anderson Phillip for Johann Layne, who went for 127 runs in his 24 overs in the first Test.
West Indies (probable): 1 John Campbell, 2 Tagenarine Chanderpaul, 3 Alick Athanaze, 4 Shai Hope, 5 Roston Chase (capt), 6 Justin Greaves, 7 Tevin Imlach (wk), 8 Kemar Roach, 9 Johann Layne/Anderson Phillip, 10 Jayden Seales, 11 Ojay Shields.
Pitch and conditions
The Wellington track is known to offer movement and bounce for the quicker bowlers, particularly early on. “There have been times when it’s been challenging to bat here first,” New Zealand captain Latham said on the eve of the Test. The team winning the toss at the Basin Reserve has opted to bowl first in each of the last 17 Tests here; the last side choosing to bat was New Zealand against Pakistan back in January 2011. Chilly weather is expected through the Test with temperatures ranging between 13 and 19 degrees Celsius. Clear skies and sunshine are expected through all five days, with minimal chance of rain.
Stats and trivia
- The Christchurch Test was the first draw in New Zealand since November 2019, ending a streak of 21 matches with a decisive result.
- New Zealand will play a highly inexperienced attack in Wellington. The last time they fielded a Test XI in which no bowler had 50-plus Test wickets was the 2012 Kingston Test against West Indies. It was the first Test match featuring all three of Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Neil Wagner.
- West Indies have not lost the opening match of an away Test series only twice since 2014 (17 away bilateral series outside of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe). Those two series are the current one and the one in England in 2020, which they lost 2-1 after winning the first Test.
- Shai Hope has made 140, 56 and 103 in his last three Test innings. Before this run, he had not scored a fifty in 31 Test innings over six years. He scored 505 runs in those 31 innings at an average of 16.83, with a top score of 48.
Quotes
“Yes, they haven’t necessarily had the results from a Test point of view but any international cricketer can front up on any day and we certainly saw that over the last couple of days at Hagley [Oval] where whatever we threw at them, they just had an answer for.”
New Zealand captain Tom Latham on West Indies’ fight in the series opener
“The guys have settled well. The Test match that we played is going to give us a lot of confidence going in the series, knowing that we can actually compete and [having] come close, almost having a chance of winning the first Test match. So the spirits are high and very, very, very, very believing right now.”
West Indies captain Roston Chase
Vishal Dikshit is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
