New Zealand won the toss and elected to field first against West Indies in the 26th match of the T20 World Cup 2024 being played at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy stadium in Tarouba, San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday.
The match is a must-win for New Zealand facing an early exit while sitting at the bottom of Group C with no point.
New Zealand played only one game so far in the cricket event. However, the 84-run defeat at the hands of Afghanistan has left them with no margin for any further error. To stay in the tournament, they will have to win their remaining group matches by a good margin.
New Zealand are the most consistently performing team. They reached semifinals in all six editions in both ODI and T20 versions. However, they could never lift the trophy.
New Zealand have made three changes for the match today. Tim Southee is in for Matt Henry, James Neesham replaces Michael Bracewell and Rachin Ravindra comes in for Mark Chapman.
“We will have a bowl. Few unknowns about the surface so bowling first. Tough first match but we have got to regroup. Southee in for Henry, Neesham in for Bracewell and Ravindra in for Chapman. New venue, new team,” Williamson said at the toss.
Meanwhile, this will be the first big test for West Indies after their wins against Uganda and Papua New Guinea.
“Doesn’t matter if we are batting or bowling, but if we had won the toss, we would have liked to bowl first as well. The guys are coming in on the back of a lot of cricket, the guys need rest too and the inclement weather helped. To keep on improving in all three areas, as a batting group we have some boxes to tick and as a bowling group, if we can control the powerplay as we did in the last game, that would be great,” said Windies skipper Rovman Powell.
Lineups
New Zealand XI: Finn Allen, Devon Conway (wk), Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Rachin Ravindra, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult.
West Indies XI: Brandon King, Johnson Charles, Nicholas Pooran (wk), Roston Chase, Rovman Powell (c), Sherfane Rutherford, Andre Russell, Romario Shepherd, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Motie.
