The Blackcaps have wrapped up a Test series win vs West Indies after adding a Bay Oval victory to their win at the Basin Reserve and currently sit in their usual top-four spot on the World Test Championship ladder. They are second with a 77.78 win percentage series and getting wins by any means, especially in home conditions is crucial for solid WTC foundations.

As expected, conditions in the Bay of Plenty favoured spin and Ajaz Patel showed his value as a mature spinner who can do his job when called upon. It's not easy to play the odd Test in Aotearoa while being relied upon as a key player when touring spinny nations, but Patel's experience and craft has seen him help the Blackcaps brush aside India in India and seal Test series win in New Zealand.

Patel is fantastic in his role, but Mitchell Santner has been superior since the start of 2024 while the Glenn Phillips and Rachin Ravindra combo ensure Blackcaps are well equipped for any splash of spin. That's a handy group of spinners to have in the WTC.

Blackcaps spinners in Tests since start of 2024

Mitchell Santner: 31w @ 19.8avg/2.8rpo
Ajaz Patel: 29w @ 26.8avg/3.2rpo
Glenn Phillips: 25w @ 35.7avg/3.6rpo
Rachin Ravindra: 8w @ 40.8avg/2.9rpo

Ajaz Patel round up

Test: 28.82avg/3.1rpo
FC: 32.8avg/3.1rpo

By year

2023: 17w @ 26.7avg/3.8rpo
2024: 23w @ 27.9avg/3.8rpo
2025: 6w @ 22.6avg/1.8rpo

By captain

Tom Latham: 39w @ 19.9avg/3.1rpo
Tim Southee: 27w @ 34.8avg/3.4rpo
Kane Williamson: 25w @ 36.2avg/2.8rpo
World Test Championship: 74w @ 28.3avg/3.3rpo

Meanwhile Jacob Duffy took 9 wickets in the Test and somehow he continues to blaze as one of Aotearoa's best seamers ever. Duffy now has the lowest Test bowling average for all Blackcaps with 20+ Test wickets and his 16.28 average makes him the only bloke below 19avg. Sprinkle on top how Duffy has the fifth lowest ODI average for Blackcaps with 30+ wickets and the second lowest average for T20I Blackcaps with 30+ wickets.

Lowest New Zealand bowling averages for 20+ Test wickets

Jacob Duffy: 16.28avg
Kyle Jamieson: 19.73
Jack Cowie: 21.53
Shane Bond: 22.09
Sir Richard Hadlee: 22.29

One fundamental of modern Blackcaps cricket is how the bowling attacking may not be as potent as they want to be, then they come back the next day or session and do damage. West Indies were 110/0 at the end of day two before being 143/2 by drinks the next day and this was repeated in the second dig when they were 43/0 at the end of day four and by lunch on day five they were 99/5.

Duffy dismissed three of the four openers across both innings and Patel took the other wicket. In both innings Duffy didn't take a wicket with the fresh new ball but returned the next day to get his wicket-taking mahi started and this epitomises Blackcaps cricket as they suss out their tactics, develop plans and tick all the rest/recovery to bounce back quickly.

Another Blackcaps fundamental is runs from the bowlers and Duffy scored 42 runs in his four innings with the bat across the series, while Patel scored 30* @ 100sr in the first innings of the third Test. Zak Foulkes wasn't at his best at Bay Oval but he still scored 39 runs across the series and Michael Rae scored 13 runs @ 118sr in his only innings. Matt Henry was the only bowler who batted in this series who didn't register a 10+ score.

The wee nation of Aotearoa has used 21 Test cricketers this year and 27 since the start of 2024. 14 took a Test wicket this year and of the 17 who played the series vs West Indies, 11 different bowlers took a wicket and 13 took a catch.

This throws up funky situations like Rae suddenly because in the Test mix. Considering that Matt Henry, Will O'Rourke, Ben Sears, Nathan Smith, Kyle Jamieson and Matt Fisher will be eager to get back into the Test squad, competition for spots is immense and this is a luxury Aotearoa cricket has rarely enjoyed before.

Which is compounded by Duffy, Jamieson, O'Rourke and Henry all having lower Test bowling averages than Trent Boult, Neil Wagner and Tim Southee. There is little need to look backwards or cling to the previous era of Blackcaps Test cricket when the current vista is like an estuary view sitting under a Pohutukawa. Funnily enough, all Blackcaps Test seamers except for Scott Kuggeleijn have far better averages than Tim Southee's 59.11 since the start of 2024.

Blackcaps Test seamer averages vs Tim Southee since the start of 2024

Blair Tickner: 8
Matt Fisher: 19
Kyle Jamieson: 15.5
Jacob Duffy: 16.28
Matt Henry: 16.32
Will O'Rourke: 24.28
Michael Rae: 28.25
Zak Foulkes: 28.38
Ben Sears: 32.2
Nathan Smith: 39.8
Tim Southee: 59.11

Some blokes scored runs at Bay Oval as well. Approaching the start of the summer, Devon Conway was in an intriguing battle with Will Young. That battle is no longer with Young struggling for ODI/Test runs and Conway finding a groove alongside his opening partner Tom Latham. For all the anxiety about Kane Williamson, three Blackcaps scored more runs than Williamson in this Test series and the tight-five is super settled as we end 2025.

Tight Five Test | First-Class batting averages

Tom Latham: 39.62 | 42.83
Devon Conway: 43.67 | 46.01
Kane Williamson: 54.68 | 51.3
Rachin Ravindra: 47.68 | 42.13
Daryl Mitchell: 43.5 | 39.28

Tom Blundell is struggling for runs and that's alright because if he's not scoring runs then Mitch Hay is ready to go. Blackcaps dipped into their 11th best seamer during this Test series and without Santner, they still had ample spin resources to win the Test series. This applies to the wicket-keeping depth as well because Max Chu will be putting pressure on Hay all summer and in the coming years.

Blackcaps won't rush to drop anyone though and the flow of runs/wickets will sort out most selection battles. From the outside looking in, there doesn't appear to be any major changes under coach Rob Walter and all the fundamental elements that make Aotearoa one of the best cricket nations in the world were on show vs West Indies.

Most importantly, Walter has already worked with a wide range of Blackcaps players across the formats since taking over as coach. In the last six months there have been Test debuts for Duffy, Foulkes, Rae, Hay and Matt Fisher. Patel's come into the group and contributed to winning, while Tickner's done that in a couple of formats as well. In the second half of 2025, Coach Walter has worked with others like Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim Robinson, Bevon Jacobs, Kristian Clarke across the formats as well.

That twists the winning mahi across the formats this year because Blackcaps don't just have winning mahi using 20+ players, they have also had two different coaches and two different chief selectors (Sam Wells/Gavin Larsen). They made the Champions Trophy final, dominated the T20 tri-series in Zimbabwe and now they have won a Test series with a second tier bowling unit that has been so good, some blokes like Duffy are now in the top-tier.

2025 wrap for Blackcaps

Test: 4-0-1 (21 players)
ODI: 17-3 (24 players)
T20I: 12-6 (21 players)

Here are the leaders for each format this year featuring nine different players across the 12 pockets...

Test

Most runs: Devon Conway (2nd = Rachin Ravindra)
Most wickets: Jacob Duffy (Matt Henry)

ODI

Most runs: Daryl Mitchell (Rachin Ravindra)
Most wickets: Matt Henry (Mitchell Santner)

T20I

Most runs: Tim Seifert (Tim Robinson)
Most wickets: Jacob Duffy (Ish Sodhi)

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Peace and love.