Mitchell Santner made the right call as New Zealand elected to bowl as they try to wrap up the five-match ODI series on a gloomy morning at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados. The venue was decorated with posters and messages in honor of Sir Garfield Sobers, who died on Friday. West Indies captain Shai Hope had hoped to dedicate the victory to him. In honor of Sobers, two seats were left empty on the balcony of the pavilion named after him. The players and match officials observed a minute’s silence in his memory.
New Zealand made two changes to their squad after their six-wicket win in Guyana. Daryl Mitchell was sidelined with a minor hip strain and Nick Kelly, the top left-handed batter, arrived for his first game of the tour. Another change was fast bowler Matthew Fisher replacing all-rounder Dean Foxcroft.
There were as many as four changes in the West Indies. Justin Greaves, Amir Jangu, Matthew Ford and Jayden Seals replace John Campbell, Shimron Hetmyer, Keemo Paul and Hari Pierre. Among the participants, Greaves and Seales were about to play their first game of the series.
“It’s about understanding the conditions,” Hope said. “I appreciated them here very quickly. This could be fresh in the morning game, maybe a little more help for the seamers. So that’s something we have to look at as a batting unit, make sure we neutralize the new ball threat as much as possible (we can). And the goal is to get a big score on the board because we need to get back into the series, down 2-1, so this is a great opportunity.”
New Zealand: Henry Nicholls, Will Young, Nick Kelly, Mark Chapman, Tom Latham (wk), Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (capt), Nathan Smith, Jacob Duffy, Matthew Fisher, Jayden Lennox
West Indies: Shai Hope (v&w), Akkeem Auguste, Kisi Carthy, Sherfane Rutherford, Amir Jangu, Justin Greaves, Matthew Ford, Alzarri Joseph, Vitel Laws, Gudakesh Moti, Jayden Seals