Venue: Providence Stadium, Guyana

West Indies (Playing XI): John Campbell, Ackeem Auguste, Keacy Carty, Shai Hope(w/c), Sherfane Rutherford, Amir Jangoo, Gudakesh Motie, Khary Pierre, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Vitel Lawes

New Zealand (Playing XI): Henry Nicholls, Will Young, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(w), Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner(c), Nathan Smith, Matthew Fisher, Jacob Duffy, Jayden Lennox

West Indies have won the toss and have opted to field

Cricket commentary | West Indies vs New Zealand, 1st ODI, New Zealand tour of West Indies, 2026

The last time these two sides squared off in a bilateral ODI series, New Zealand whitewashed West Indies 3-0 at home.

The Windies haven't won a bilateral ODI series against the Kiwis since 2012. Taking the recent history into consideration, the visitors are slight favourites.

New Zealand are missing several of their frontline players but they do still possess enough quality in their squad. Matt Fisher has earned his maiden ODI call-up. They have got good variety both in terms of pace and spin.

When it comes to the hosts, the 19-year-old, Vitel Lawes, had earned his maiden ODI call-up.

Hope wins toss and will be bowling

Shai Hope: We are going to be bowling first. Here in Guyana it's very hot, we have three spinners. Adapting well is the key for us. We have a young debutant, Vitel Lawes, and there two more spinners alongside him, and two pacers.

Santner: I think the pitch looks okay, it might be a little slow. We will try to get to a fighting score, maybe something around 250 will do the job. The highs of England was outstanding but we come here to win the trophy with a slightly different squad and we are looking forward to the 2027 World Cup. We have got Matt Fisher making his debut

WI with 3 spinners

Motie

Pierre

Vitel Lawes