West Indies vs New Zealand, 1st T20I: Match Preview, Head to Head, Playing XI and Broadcast Details

West Indies will lock horns with visitors New Zealand in a three-match T20I series, with the series opener commencing on the 11th of August, Thursday. The hosts endured an unceremonious time against the previous touring party, India, suffering a harrowing 4-1 defeat in the T20I series followed by a 3-0 whitewash in the ODI series.

Nicholas Pooran has a big headache of discovering the perfect balance of the team ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year. Their shortcomings against spin bowling was on display in the previous series, with the Indian spinners accounting for all ten Windies wickets in the final T20I, a T20I record.

Meanwhile, New Zealand are on a rampaging run in white-ball cricket and are undefeated across ODIs and T20Is since their 3-0 whitewash against India last year. The Kiwis will welcome some of the senior players back into the squad, who were rested for the previous outing. 

Kane Williamson returns to the team and will take over the reins from Mitchell Santner, who led the Blackcaps diligently in the previous encounters in the absence of the mercurial skipper. The Kiwis will likely field their strongest team since this is their last T20I series before the showcase ICC event in Australia.

West Indies are the underdogs heading into the series given their previous outing against India and will have to pull up their socks if they are to lay a glove on a daunting New Zealand side.

Pitch Conditions

The first of the three T20Is will be hosted by Sabina Park, a venue renowned for its pace and bounce at one point in time but has slowed down considerably in the recent past. The team winning the toss would opt to bat first, as chasing on this surface could be a tricky task.

Playing Combinations for WI vs NZ

West Indies

The Windies batters let the team down in the previous series with some questionable shots, especially against the slower bowlers. Nicholas Pooran hopes for better application from his top-order batters this time against the Kiwis.

Predicted XI: Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Shimron Hetmyer, Odean Smith, Nicholas Pooran (C & WK), Rovman Powell, Akeal Hosein, Romario Shepherd, Alzarri Joseph, Obed McCoy, Hayden Walsh

New Zealand

New Zealand

Kane Williamson will have a few headaches of his own, as he will have to accommodate the likes of Michael Bracewell and Finn Allen in a team full of experienced and proven match winners. Tim Southee and Trent Boult’s return means that the Kiwis are probably going with their best XI in the series.

Predicted XI: Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Kane Williamson (C), Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips (WK), Michael Bracewell, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Lockie Ferguson

WI vs NZ Head-to-Head

Played- 16 | West Indies- 5|New Zealand- 9 | NR – 2

WI vs NZ Broadcast Details

Match Timings- 12:00 AM IST

Streaming- FanCode