New Zealand vs West Indies, 4th T20I at Nelson, NZ vs WI, Nov 10 2025 - Ball by Ball Commentary

That was as brief as the action can get. Barely six overs of play are possible in Nelson, as New Zealand remain 2-1 up with one game to go in the series. Ekanth's washout report will be up soon. And there's plenty of more cricket to look forward to. So goodbye from here. Take care!

Shai Hope: "We've still got a chance to level the series. Our main focus is that. I was looking forward to this one. Was expecting better surfaces [than in Bangladesh]."

Mitchell Santner: "Shame we couldn't get a full game. The more you put into yourself in those positions [of thrilling games], the more you learn."

4:07pm The inevitable call-off has occurred... inevitably. The rain has held sway for too long, it's returned after stopping and giving us glimmers of hope. Quite the shame after what started off as an interesting game. Himanshu will report the presentation in a minute.

Jay: "Oh man… radar is just shown the rain will clear… in 2 hours.. for 8 minutes.. yeh, good call umps"

Conrad John Bul: "Apparently the cutoff for when play has to restart is 4:33pm - so it's looking very unlikely."

Abira: "Ekanth is back and I'm still waiting for my background noise" Well, you'll have to look for other sources. WBBL in an hour. Sheffield Shield games going on for now.

4pm Thanks, Himanshu. The delays are not a surprise, but they've still been annoying to say the least.

Srineet: "What's the deadline for the umpires to take a call to announce about the match getting abandoned?" No official info yet, will post right away when it's in. Okay, if I heard it correctly,

Rossco: "Judging by the rain radar, there's a bit of drizzle now, and then a chunky blob of rain in about 45 minutes... Can't see this one getting a result unfortunately"

Razor : "Speaking from New Zealand and confirming the rain radar, you can all go to sleep up there in the Northern Hemisphere, there won't be a match here"

3.43pm We have news: play to resume at 3.50pm. Hang on - while the official broadcaster did have that good news on display, it has vanished for now. Maybe it's raining again. We'll be back with the next update soon. In fact, the update from them now is that the game is stopped due to "wet ground condition". With that bit of non-news, it's back to Ekanth.

3.25pm The super sopper is doing the rounds as the rain has stopped. Inspection is scheduled for 3.45pm. For the moment, though, it remains cloudy and gloomy. So there might not be much to expect.

Ben: "As a Nelson local who is at work today, I am pleased about this rain!" --- It's all about finding the positives in life!

Neil: "Considering the Australia, England, and West Indies series have been scheduled during spring, I'm surprised that we've had as much cricket as we have so far." --- I'm only surprised cricket isn't scheduled during snow!!

"Easy to choose between sleep and cricket. Hard to choose between sleep and the hope of cricket resuming.." --- Rob, the philosopher, nearly hits the hammer bang on the nail.

2.58pm It's confirmed: it's still raining in Nelson. There's a hint of brightness around, but that would be of no help until the rain stops. The covers are on the pitch, and so are the umbrellas in the crowd, as the wait for play continues. Many may have gulped their lunch already (I'm not asking who has had what!?), with the time for tea drawing near.

Macklingam: "9:50pm here in Guyana. Looking and waiting in bed for the game to play without further delays." --- Always tough to choose between cricket and sleep.

2.45pm We haven't heard of any official update yet. So presumably, it's still raining, and we've got no way out other than waiting more. Stay tuned for the drop-by-drop updates.

Kiran: "Looking ahead, hopefully the weather is mostly clear for the Ashes!" --- Whatever it is, Stuart Broad would still expect England to win.

FR: "I have a job interview in 30 mins. Gutting about the rain, needed the distraction :)" --- Everything is planned by Him!!

2.30pm Hello again, everyone. What's keeping you occupied during this rain break? Except, of course, the hope of some action.

Abira: "3:25 am here. The one time I'm up for a match in this series, it's raining. I need it as background noise for finals studying". Hopefully play will be back soon. Himanshu will be in to cover it

2:16pm Seconds after the ball is bowled, rain returns for part deux! Just the pitch that's covered for now. The rain is light but expected to be persistent.

Matty A: "So now is the time where we make poor jokes and then get increasingly more insistent on getting them published?" Your fingers are on the pulse, the pulse connected to arteries that is, and not what Google calls 'a measured amount of an isotopic label given to a culture of cells'

Marty: "Nelson local here… don't like the chances of a game today :( "

TR finds joy in the smaller offerings of life: "if you look at the scores of the Sheffield shield matches rn the scores are 67/2 and 76/2 haha"

Varun Ghosal: "its 1.20am in the UK. Im officially tapping out, going to bed and expecting to wake up to no result. Night!"

Bhargav Sura: "Amir Jangoo is very un-West Indian going by his T20 record. He's played 42 T20s and as an opener only having a strikerate of 105 - tells you about his mindset as an opening batter. When the word is GO from Ball 1, he doesn't seem to fit that slot. As much excited I am to see the West Indies be very competitive in T20s as they used to be along with ODIs, such line-up doesn't seem to amaze me."

2:16pm - rain picking up

Drizzle returns but we're good to go for now

Sodhi now on

Nick Drawerpoo: "Weather is shocking surprised they are playing. Not surprised by a wicket straight after a break in play though."

Wally: "1st off, Happy bday Shai Hope! And 2nd of all, is this the same pitch used for yesterday's game?" Yes, same pitch

Neesham to resume proceedings.

2:05pm Players getting ready. Some 'steady the ship' hats in the crowd, which is a Kane Williamson phenomenon. There's a fan with a bobblehead as NZ huddle around the boundary. No overs lost

Matty A: "To follow up my previous comment, what does the weather have to do with when you should bat?" DLS comes into play in shortened games. A reduced target, especially early in the game, benefits the side bowling first.

Karan: "watching from Saskatchewan,Canada…Nelson's gotta be one of the most beautiful grounds in the world along with Queenstown, Cape Town and Dharamsala" A little while later he adds, "Saxton oval doesn't have floodlights so they can only schedule a game during the day but they should've scheduled the games on Saturday and Sunday "

2:02pm David was spot on. Break didn't go on for too long. Resumption scheduled for 2:10pm

Tom: "Weather aside, this is an odd scheduling choice by NZC. An early afternoon game, in Nelson, on a Monday. How many people are in the crowd? " A few around. But yeah, nothing like a primetime Sunay-night crowd. A picture of the ground from earlier shows the crowd... here

Matty A: "Any insights as to why NZ chose to bowl? Batting first has won every other time this series" Weather mainly

Wrt to Steve's comment from earlier, Vairavan - our scorer, informs me that 53 would have been the target if the game was reduced to 5-overs-a-side

TR: "how much do you commenters earn? do you earn per match or per hour or a monthly salary " As a commenter, you should be the one telling us TR

1:52pm We should have at least 15 minutes of affordable time. Time that wouldn't cost overs.

Here's David again, five minutes later: "They're drying the outfield now so should be back out shortly. " Amazing, thanks

Steve: "So let's extrapolate forward to there just being enough time for NZ to come out and face 5 overs. What will the target be? 50? 60? More?" Sounds adventurous, but even with 10 wickets in hand, I doubt DLS would inflate the target that much.

William: "Report from the ground- rain has stopped, we're crossing our fingers it stays away" Oh nice, thanks. Taking your word on this at... 1:51 PM local time

1:37pm Delay confirmed. It do be raining! Smell of petrichor reported on comms. A few fans are on their deck chairs, on grass banks, as rain picks up from low clouds. Covers being brought on. Always nice to look at the positives but there is rain forecast till... 4:30 PM local

Abira: "So no more cricket today ?" Too early to call but the forecast isn't great, or even promising for that matter

Angus old mate: "You are going to have to explain your comment from 1:36pm - "Conway goes opa, opa like a Twitch streamer" my 35-year-old brain is stumped." Haha, all good. I'm 29 myself, just got across it randomly. Urban Dictionary calls it "a Greek word used to describe a jubilant emotion of/during 'celebration'." It's commonly used on Twitch, the gaming-streaming platform, and gamers there use it from time to time.

Adam: "Jangoo out here batting like it is test cricket and he's got all day!" Tbf he tried to hit his way out, just didn't work

1:36pm - Conway goes opa, opa like a Twitch streamer. One more ball before a likely stop in play

David: "Looks like Jangoo is a like for like replacement for King. He's really struggling."

Bracewell on, from around

Matty A: "It's quiet today -- are the comms not making the grade? If you don't publish this, I'll know that I'm right, I guess" Haha, it's been rather quiet so far. Maybe this aware comment changes things.