Batting in focus for deflated West Indies as they come up against red-hot New Zealand

New Zealand have been enjoying a good run of form in ODIs: since the start of 2025, they have played three series at home and won all of them, losing just one of the nine matches. Their last two series at home - against Pakistan and England - were 3-0 whitewashes.

In February, they had won a tri-series in Pakistan that also involved South Africa, winning all their games. That was a precursor to the Champions Trophy in Pakistan and UAE, where New Zealand finished runners-up, losing only their two games against India, including the final.

West Indies' faced trial by spin in their recent ODI series in Bangladesh, but it will be a complete turnaround as they will now face a different challenge altogether.

During New Zealand's most recent ODI outing, also at home, England were bowled out under 225 on all three occasions, with fast bowlers taking 27 of the 30 wickets to fall.

Blair Tickner, who came into that series as an injury replacement for Kyle Jamieson, led the charts with eight wickets while Zak Foulkes and Jacob Duffy took seven apiece.

New Zealand will also be boosted by the return of their most experienced pacer, Matt Henry, who missed out the last two ODIs against England with a calf strain.

While West Indies may feel more comfortable taking on quicker bowling than spinners, they will still need to be ready for a high-quality attack that will be raring to carry on the momentum gathered against England.

With injuries to Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph and Jediah Blades, the responsibility will fall on Jayden Seales to lead a relatively inexperienced West Indies pace attack.

Matthew Forde has played just 13 ODIs, while Johann Layne and fast-bowling allrounder Shamar Springer have received their maiden call-ups.

Allrounder Justin Greaves has bowled in just nine of his 18 ODIs and picked just six wickets, so he will likely be expected to play just a holding role with the ball.

With a batting line-up that is still unsettled, West Indies know the onus will be on the bowlers to a lot of the heavy lifting in the series.

It has long been the case for West Indies that they pick promising batters who show sparks at the international level, but fail to maintain consistency.

Keacy Carty in ODIs has been among the ones to deliver on their promise, with four centuries and five fifties, but two of those centuries came against Ireland. He has not crossed fifty in his last seven innings.

Alick Athanaze returned to the ODI setup in the Bangladesh tour after being dropped at the end of last year, and showed good application to get starts in testing conditions, but needs to begin converting those starts.

Amir Jangoo began his ODI career with a century on debut, but failed in the three ODIs against Ireland and the one game he got in England.

Captain Shai Hope is their Mr Dependable in the department, but he will need support from his team-mates. In an attempt to bolster their batting, West Indies have opted to give John Campbell another shot, after six years out in the cold in the format, in place of Brandon King. Can he make an impact on his ODI comeback, like he did in Tests with a fine century against India?