New Zealand v West Indies, 1st Test - MATCH PREVIEW

The West Indies tour of New Zealand 2013-14 Bilateral Series starts from Tuesday, 3rd December with first Test match between New Zealand - West Indies to be played at University Oval, Dunedin.

West Indies team just returned from a horrendous performance in India losing both the test and ODI series. Darren Sammy, the West Indian skipper said : "I didn’t have a good tour in India and I want to reassure myself as a Test captain and Test cricketer." He even mentioned his team needs to work hard and they will do it at any cost. He averaged 30 with the bat and, most tellingly, 55 with the ball. "It’s not like the Caribbean where you can play through the line. You have to assess the conditions. It’s not going to be easy, the ball is going to be moving around a bit so we have to counteract that," said Dinesh Ramdin.

Brendon McCullum on the other hand, is suffering from a long-term crippling back condition, which forced him home from Bangladesh tour. Although he scored his last ton way past in 2010 but he seemed fit on nets. New Zealand team is back from Sri Lanka’s tour where they lost a rain interfered T20 series and a tie in ODI series. Ish Sodhi, 21, and Corey Anderson, 22, will both be playing their first home Test match for New Zealand.
Dunedin’s cool weather will serve a favorable condition for a competitive cricket despite the fact that some of the West Indies players got a cold before the match. Chris Gayle’s replacement Kragg Braithwaite is yet to arrive because of visa issues. A fine weather is expected for the first four days of the Test. Pitch will surely favour the fast bowlers but spinners too will get a slight turn. As now, New Zealand chances are higher but as we know cricket is a funny game, so no hard and fast guesses.

West Indies tour of New Zealand 2013-14 will consist of 3 Test, 5 ODI and 2 T20 match.