2025 West Indies Tour Of New Zealand: Five Key ODI/Test Pockets For Blackcaps
New Zealand's Blackcaps have maintained their ODI excellence with a series sweep of West Indies and now they wiggle into a Test series that will be the start of their World Test Championship campaign. Here are five key pockets weaving through both formats to digest before we dive deeper into the the Test series...
ODI Excellence
Aotearoa is the best ODI team in the world. This draws on a strong history in major one-day tournaments in which they have made the semi-finals for five consecutive ODI World Cups and after making the Champions Trophy final earlier this year, Blackcaps have made the final in three of the last four ODI tournaments.
Most of their ODIs this year have been played in Aotearoa and this includes the nine games since the Champions Trophy final which were all wins. To balance that, Blackcaps only lost two of their eight games during the Champions Trophy window and those two losses were both against India when India decided they were too cool to do any travel in the Champions Trophy - unlike every other team.
Blackcaps have Daryl Mitchell with the highest ODI batting average for kiwis who have scored 1,000+ runs (53.1avg and Kane Williamson is next best on 48.6) and Matt Henry who is the leading wicket-taker for all ODI bowlers this year.
The depth runs deep though as there are 10 batters who have scored 200+ runs this year and six of them are averaging 40+. Mitchell Santner is below 40avg but cruising along at 210 runs @ 26.2avg/115sr. Batters with 200+ runs averaging 40+ in ODIs this year: Mitchell, Ravindra, Williamson, Conway, Chapman, Phillips.
10 bowlers have taken 9+ wickets and seven of them are averaging below 30 with five below 25avg. This doesn't include Kyle Jamieson (30avg) or Michael Bracewell (31.8avg) and both these bowlers are part of a group of eight bowlers who have taken 10+ wickets. Bowlers who have 9+ wickets and averages below 39 this year: Henry, Santner, Duffy, Smith, Sears, Foulkes, Tickner.
ODI mahi this year for Test playing nations
NZ: 17-3 | 5.6 win/loss ratio
India: 9-2 | 4.5
Afghanistan: 4-1 | 4
Sri Lanka: 7-6 | 1.16
South Africa: 7-7 | 1
Pakistan: 7-10 | 0.7
Australia: 4-6 | 0.66
Ireland: 2-3 | 0.66
Zimbabwe: 2-3 | 0.66
Bangladesh: 3-7 | 0.42
England: 4-11 | 0.36
West Indies: 3-10 | 0.3
World Test Championship
The Test series in Zimbabwe wasn't part of the WTC but this series vs West Indies is. Not only do Blackcaps always make the semi-finals of ODI tournaments and usually make the final these days, they have also been top-four in the WTC for two of the three campaigns. Blackcaps finished fourth in the last cycle and that was a notable bounce back from finishing sixth in the previous cycle.
Having a wide variety of players performing well in ODIs is funky because it's not the case for Blackcaps in the last WTC cycle. There were only three batters averaging 40+ in the 2023/25 WTC (Williamson, Ravindra, Young) and only three batters hit centuries (Williamson, Ravindra, Blundell). Blackcaps batters who averaged less than 25 in the last WTC cycle: Latham, Blundell, Conway.
There were five bowlers who averaged below 30 in the last WTC cycle and three of them won't be playing vs West Indies in Jamieson, O'Rourke and Patel. The only bowlers who averaged below 20 in the last WTC cycle will be playing vs West Indies though in Henry and Santner.
West Indies have started this WTC with no wins and five losses. Their last Test win in Aotearoa was back in 1995 and they have gone 14 Tests without a win in New Zealand. There was a phase between 2008-13 where these two teams played out four consecutive draws in Aotearoa but since then Blackcaps have won six Tests in a row. All six wins for Blackcaps have been by 5+ wickets, 200+ runs or an innings and whatever.
Mitchell Santner
Mitchell and Henry have been awesome for Blackcaps in recent years. Rachin Ravindra continues his rise towards legendary status and others like Jacob Duffy have excelled as mature cricketers to not just become regulars for Blackcaps but become world-class performers. One of the best things about the Blackcaps development pipeline is how players at all levels improve and this applies to Santner who is currently in a career-best zone.
Santner's ODI mahi this year is only a jiffy away from his best year of ODI bowling...
Years averaging below 30 in ODI bowling
2017: 26w @ 26.3avg/4.6rpo
2025: 25w @ 26.8avg/4.5rpo
2021: 4w @ 20.2avg/3.8rpo
There is also a clear improvement in Santner's Test bowling...
Before 2020: 44.71avg/2.79rpo
Since start of 2020: 22avg/2.8rpo
Santner has only played the two Tests in 2025 but his five Tests in 2024 with 27w @ 19.9avg is his best year of Test bowling. Meanwhile, Santner is in a batting groove and perhaps fulfilling the potential he showed earlier in his career. Santner has the highest strike-rate for Blackcaps with 200+ ODI runs this year (115.38sr) and his T20I strike-rate of 187.67 this year is second behind Finn Allen's 211.76sr for Blackcaps with 200+ runs.
Santner has a Test batting average of 25.83 (47sr) and ODI batting average of 26.77. Here are Santner's Test scores since returning to regular 1st 11 flow: 1, 35*, 2, 2, 2, 29, 67, 33, 4, 76, 49, 19. Two of his five 50+ socres have come in this period and Santner's Test mahi improves to 29avg/64sr in the period since the start of 2023.
Nathan Smith and Zak Foulkes Combination
Don't buzz about which players are not named in squads because Aotearoa's depth, especially in the seam bowling department is the best most of us have ever seen. Having Duffy in the mix to play his second Test while being fabulous in ODI/T20I bowling is one indicator of this and another is how Blackcaps are moving towards the Smith/Foulkes combo playing more cricket together.
Smith and Foulkes have played in the same ODI team recently. Smith is still yet to play a T20I despite being in the squad that hosted West Indies and Smith's injury during the Test tour of Zimbabwe saw Foulkes get an opportunity, so these two haven't played a T20I or Test together.
Depending on form and availability, the best Blackcaps teams in Tests and ODIs especially, will feature lots of Smith/Foulkes together over the next few years. The Test 1st 11 for Blackcaps vs West Indies should feature Smith/Foulkes together, joining Henry and Duffy with Santner offering spin and Blair Tickner offering seam depth. The only barrier could be Michael Bracewell who may be selected as a spinning all-rounder ahead of Smith or Foulkes.
Kiwi conditions should suit Smith and Foulkes better though. This is amplified by their batting ability as both have flashed their craft for Aotearoa with Smith having a highest Test score of 42 and having three 20+ scores in his five innings. Foulkes didn't bat in his one Test but he has a T20I strike-rate of 139.5 and hasn't been dismissed in his three ODI innings.
Smith averages 26.2 in First-Class batting with 13 scores over 50 and one century in FC batting as well as 22.8 in List-A batting. Foulkes averages 18 in FC batting with three 50+ scores and his best batting format is LA where he averages 27.9.
The main mahi is bowling though and both should be in the 1st 11 along with Duffy based on their bowling alone. Smith's averaging 30 in his Blackcaps formats but he has 3+ wickets in all of his Tests played and has a FC bowling average of 26.6 so should be able to settle into his nibble vs West Indies, while Foulkes is averaging below 27 in all six of his bowling zones.
Smith and Foulkes may have a trickier battle for 1st 11 selection in a full strength Test mixer also featuring O'Rourke and Jamieson. Ben Sears and Matt Fisher are part of the Text mixer as well to amplify the competitive depth, but kiwi cricket fans should be open to the best Blackcaps Test team having the Smith/Foulkes combo playing second fiddle to Henry.
Nathan Smith
Test: 5inns, 10w @ 35.9avg/5rpo
ODI: 14inns, 18w @ 32.5avg/6.7rpo
Zak Foulkes
Test: 2inns, 9w @ 8.3avg/3rpo
ODI: 5inns, 9w @ 16avg/4.5rpo
T20I: 16inns, 18w @ 26.2avg/8.6rpo
Devon Conway and Will Young Puzzle
One of the sneaky holes in the Blackcaps ODI team is Young. Of the 12 batters who have scored 100+ runs this year, Young's 18.8avg makes him the only batter averaging below 25. Young is one of the best Test batters for Blackcaps since the start of 2024 though as one of three batters who have scored 200+ runs and average 40+.
Conway on the flipside has been excellent in ODI batting and was sliding in Test batting before doing what most Blackcaps did in scoring runs vs Zimbabwe. Conway averaged 45+ in his first two years of Test batting and dropped below 35avg in the next two years, bottoming out at 21.4 during 2024.
Not only did Conway score runs in Zimbabwe, he has scores of 13, 16, 56, 47*, 49, 90 and 11 during the West Indies tour. Young isn't playing T20Is and his recent scores feature three games for Central Districts but is mahi still looks iffy with scores of 5, 0, 1, 2, 50, 25, 0, 11 and 3.
Conway or Young will open alongside Tom Latham (who is averaging 26.3 since the start of 2024). Conway is a specialist opener who has diminshed Test production balanced by recent form in other formats. Young is not a specialist opener and his recent form is balanced by solid Test performances during the period of Conway's diminished mahi. This is a tricky selection call but there is room for tweaking throughout the series.
Tests since start of 2024
Conway: 631 runs @ 30avg/56sr
Young: 596 runs @ 42.5avg/50sr
ODIs in 2025
Conway: 369 runs @ 46.1avg/84sr
Young: 320 runs @ 18.8avg/79sr
Career (Test | ODI)
Conway: 39.2avg/52sr | 44.8avg/88sr
Young: 32.7avg/46sr | 36avg/86sr
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