By CricketCountry Staff
West Indies will look to gain some confidence against an under-prepare New Zealand side when they clash in their first Twenty20 International of a two-match series starting in Florida on Saturday.
Published: Jun 30, 2012, 11:02 PM (IST)
Edited: Jun 30, 2012, 11:02 PM (IST)
The Caribbean unit will boast plenty of firepower © Getty Images
By CricketCountry Staff
Lauderhill: Jun 30, 2012
West Indies will look to gain some confidence against an under-prepare New Zealand side when they clash in their first Twenty20 International of a two-match series starting in Florida on Saturday.
The Caribbean side had a disastrous tour of England, where they failed to win a single match. The West Indies lost the three-match Test and One-Day International series by 0-2 margins, and also sliding to a heavy defeat in the one-off T20I last Sunday.
The West Indies are ranked seventh in Tests with the Black Caps eighth with positions reversed in the ODI rankings.
Ranked fourth in the overall rankings, New Zealand will find themselves short of match practice, having played their last Twenty20 in March 2012. Black Caps seamer Tim Southee said he expected not only the T20s but the entire series to be keenly contested.
New Zealand boast the likes of Indian Premier League star, captain Ross Taylor, Martin Guptill, Nathan McCullum and Doug Bracewell in their line-up.
“It’ll be a good series right through to the Tests,” Tim Southee said.
The Caribbean unit will boast plenty of firepower in the form of talismanic opener Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Smith, Dwayne Bravo and mystery off-spinner Sunil Narine.
Teams:
West Indies (Probable): Chris Gayle, Lendl Simmons, Dwayne Smith, Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin(wk), Darren Sammy(c), Sunil Narine, Ravi Rampaul, Fidel Edwards.
New Zealand (Probable): Ross Taylor (c), Rob Nicol, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum (wk), Kane Williamson, James Franklin, Nathan McCullum, Doug Bracewell, Michael Bates, Ronnie Hira, Tim Southee.
Catch live-scores and ball-by-ball commentary of the first Twenty20 here
