Chase aims to end West Indies’ 30-year wait for Test series win in New Zealand 

The West Indies haven’t had a Test win against New Zealand in New Zealand in 30 years. Not since a drawn first match and an innings-and-322-run victory in the second handed them a 1-0 series win in 1995. Ahead of Monday evening’s start to their latest clash, Captain Roston Chase is desperate for a change in fortunes, hoping it will place his team on “the good side of history” at the end of the contest. 

“[Winning] would mean a lot,” Chase said on the eve of the first Test. “We haven't won here (New Zealand) in a very long time. We don't want to be on the bad side of history all the time.”

The West Indies come into the series having lost all five of their games in the current 2025-27 cycle of the ICC World Test Championship. Meanwhile, this will be the first contest of the cycle for the former champions. 

Beneath the determined optimism from the Windies skipper is the resignation that his team starts as justified underdogs. As a result, they have a lower starting point than the Kiwis.

“Well, ideally, when you come to any series, the goal is to win,” Chase began. “But I want [performances like we had in] the ODIs and the T20s. That's the main goal, for us to play some good cricket and make them work as hard as possible.”

Shai Hope before him and now Chase have spoken about being content with the visitors’ showing in the white-ball leg of the tour despite the 3-1 and 3-0 results in the T20s and ODIs, respectively. The West Indies were, admittedly, on the wrong side of some closely contested games.

With a number of white-ball players also involved in the Test series, Chase believes better execution could make all the difference.

Chase said, “I just think if we can learn and adapt a bit faster, especially with problem-solving, we can get over the line in the red ball [games] for sure.”

The first Test bowls off later on Monday at the Hagley Oval at 6 PM Eastern Caribbean Time and 5 PM in Jamaica.