New Zealand

Siraj conceded 37 runs off just three overs in India's 10-wicket loss to Australia on Sunday, which caused the paceman to slump behind Hazlewood and New Zealand's Trent Boult.

Mitchell Stark took 5-53 in that rout, equalling the record number of five-wicket ODI hauls by an Australian bowler.

Hazlewood's rise to the top of the rankings comes despite the 32-year-old having not played in an ODI since November, while his last appearance in any format came in January.

However, he is expected to be back playing for this year's Ashes series in England, which commences on June 16 at Edgbaston.

Meanwhile, Kane Williamson has moved up four spots to second in the Test batting rankings behind Marnus Labuschagne. 

Williamson scored a remarkable 215 runs in New Zealand's victory over Sri Lanka in their two-match series, which the Black Caps won 2-0.

The 27-year-old off-spinner was recently selected as part of a 15-man Test squad that will face New Zealand in a two-match series later this month.  

After putting in several strong performances at the regional and A-Team level, the player made his debut for the West Indies senior team against India last year.

Cornwall has since gone on to appear in three matches, where he has claimed 13 wickets with a best innings of 7 for 75 against Afghanistan.  Discussions surrounding the player have, however, inexorably centred around his weight.  At an estimated 1.96 m and 308 lbs, he is believed to be the heaviest man to ever play Test cricket.  The debate surrounding the issue has settled mainly into two camps, with some believing the player should continue to be given a chance because of his achievements to date and others believing he should be judged on the same fitness merit as other players selected for the squad.  Rose has trended toward the latter.

“He has a lot of talent, but no disrespect, I have a problem with his fitness,” Rose told the Mason and Guest radio program.

“Say for example they play him in the first Test and he makes 100 runs. ‘Very well done, congratulations’ but when he goes out into the field to field, how many runs is he going to give away?” he added.

“No disrespect, it doesn’t fit the profile of a Test cricketer.  Maybe try him with the T20.  Can he bat for three days? Do you think he can bat for three days in a Test match? Can he chase the ball to the boundary, pick it up and throw it back in?”

Cornwall is often deployed in the slip positions when the team is on fielding duty.

The 26-year-old has long been touted as one of the region’s brightest prospects but has struggled mightily at the crease in recent years.  A quick look at the player’s statistics makes for jarring reading.  Hope has averaged 19.48 since December 2017 and just 14.45 since February 2019.  In the 2-1 defeat against England, he averaged below 18.  Such dismal form has seen his 34 Test average slip to 26.27.

Even so, the debate has raged on over the player’s continued inclusion in the team, with plenty of ferocity on either side.  His proponents will point to performances like Headingley when he steered West Indies to a famous win over England in August 2017.

“He’s a great talent but Shai Hope needs to go back to the drawing board.  What the selection panel has done is correct,” Wallace told the Mason and Guest radio program.

“He has struggled for three years in Test match cricket.  He looked out of sorts in England and he deserves to be in Barbados working on his game,” he added.

“The lead selector said that the coach has identified a program for Shai Hope.  We don’t know who will be working with him, but in Barbados, they have lots of good coaches…when we see Shai Hope again playing red-ball cricket, his physique should be different, his mentality should be different and obviously, his ability to bat and bat long should be back above even where he left off.”

The 31-year-old Bravo, along with Shimron Hetmyer and Keemo Paul, declined not to take part in the team’s tour of England earlier this year, citing health concerns due to the ongoing pandemic. 

Despite winning the first Test with a commendable performance, the West Indies batting line-up went through its typical struggles in the next two, as the series went to England 2-1.  The West Indies's batting performance in the England series was among their worst on tour since 2000, with the top-6 averaging just 28.66 and no century in the entire three-game series.

With such performances, it is little wonder Simmons is excited to get back a couple of his key batsmen.  He is confident Bravo and Hetmyer can make a difference.

“He’s (Bravo) has always been important, to the Test team especially, and it’s good to have him and Shimron back in the squad,” Simmons told members of the media on Friday.

“Where the batting is concerned it will be pressure on people to hold their places, in order to hold their places, they will have to score runs and that is a big plus for us,” he added.

“He is a huge plus for us in these situations.  He has done well here.  He is one of the only batsmen that have high averages in international cricket, so he knows what it takes to score big runs at this level so it’s good to have him back.”

Brathwaite was replaced as vice-captain by all-rounder Roston Chase and batsman Nicholas Pooran ahead of the start of the team’s tour of New Zealand.  The opener, who was first appointed the Test vice-captain in 2015, had averaged 21 from his last 15 Tests heading into the England series.

He did show signs of a promised recovery with half-centuries in the first Test, where he scored 65 and 75 in the second.  Brathwaite, however, also had scores of 4, 12, 1 and 19 to average 21.  According to Harper, the decision panel is hoping less responsibility will lead to more consistency from the player.

“We thought it important at this time to allow Kraigg Brathwaite, who has been the vice-captain for a while, to just pay a little more attention, to focus a little more on his batting,” Harper told members of the media from the team’s training base in New Zealand.

“He has not been in the best of form for a little while.  I think he began to get himself together on the England tour, we want him to build on this.  We thought the relieving of the responsibility would allow him to focus some more on his batting.”

The 28-year-old had shown great promise alongside Shai Hope at the top of the order, scoring 134 and 95 when the West Indies successfully chased down 322 for a memorable win at Headingley in 2017.

Brathwaite then suffered a dip in form, averaging 25.33 in his last 20 Tests ahead of the England series this year.  His struggles included poor showings against India and Afghanistan.  The player did show a flicker of returning to form during the team’s last Test tour against England where he scored two half-centuries.  Brathwaite reached 65 in the first and got 75 in the second but, however, also had other innings scores of 4, 12, 1, and 19 to average 21.

The opener though, looked good in the team’s warm-up matches against New Zealand A, where he scored 246 in the second warm-up match.  The performance has encouraged the West Indies captain.

“It’s good to see our opening batsmen, including Kraigg, getting some scores.  I thought he shaped up really well in England, he good a few half-centuries, got a few starts and he’s starting to look like the Kraigg Brathwaite of old,” Holder told CWI media.

“He’s obviously been a banker for us over the years, he’s had a lean patch over the last couple of years but to see him coming back into stride the way he has.  I was remarking to one of the coaches that the innings I saw in Queenstown, the double hundred, was one of the most fluent innings I have seen from him.  It reminded me of a Test match innings he played in Hobart where he got 97 in the second innings that was one of the most fluent innings I’ve ever seen from Kraigg but this one was similar,” he added.

“For me, his balance looks really good and he is striking the ball really well.  So, let’s hope he can continue in that vein and get us off to some really good starts.”  

The 2019 champions were roundly thrashed by New Zealand in the tournament opener in Ahmedabad, going down by nine wickets as Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra shared an unbroken stand of 273.

Stokes, the hero of the Lord’s final four years ago and newly back in the ODI fold after reversing his retirement, missed out with a left hip problem and cut a frustrated figure as he watched on from the dugout.

Details of the Test captain’s fitness are sparse but he has struggled with a longstanding left knee problem in recent years and has already been ruled out as a bowling option in the World Cup to ease the load on his body.

England would love to welcome him back for Tuesday’s clash against Bangladesh in the Himalayan city of Dharamasala, but there is no guarantee he will be cleared for action.

Whether or not he makes it, Wood wants the rest of the squad to take their own responsibility for turning things around.

“It’s not all just about ‘the Messiah’ Stokesy coming back and him doing everything. I don’t want to put too much pressure on him,” said his Durham team-mate.

“He’s not Superman. He’s been through tough situations. Other people have to stand up as well. He’s obviously one of our best players, if not our best player, but all the lads have to stand up as well.”

Wood offered an uncertain update on Stokes’ current status, but England have already made it clear they will not gamble so early in their six-week stay.

“I don’t know (how he is), but he’s got strapping round his leg, which is helping,” said Wood.

“He’ll have to get in the nets and see if the strapping does its job and allows him to move how he wants. It’s not just about batting, it’s in the field too.

“Obviously we want Stokesy back – he’s a huge player. We’ll just have to assess with the medical team. It’s not up to me.”

Former captain Eoin Morgan, the man who masterminded England’s white-ball revolution and lifted the World Cup at Lord’s four years ago, emphasised the influential role Stokes still has to play – on and off the field.

“Ben Stokes’ return will be key. The difference he makes is invaluable and there is no measure on the impact he has in a changing room,” Morgan said.

“He believes he can achieve anything from any sort of circumstances and has backed that up in match-winning performances. He breeds confidence and belief. After a defeat like that, he will no doubt be speaking in that changing room.

“His words hold a lot of weight because they are backed up by performance. He will have had a great view of the whole game and hopefully he’ll be back on the field as soon as possible.”

Wood, meanwhile, has plenty to consider after he was put to the sword by Conway and Ravindra. Playing his first ODI since March he sent down five wicketless overs for 55 and was thrashed for seven fours and two pulled sixes.

He missed the recent home series against New Zealand due to a sore heel but he insisted the only pain he felt after Thursday’s game was psychological.

“I’m a bit battered mentally, from watching the ball going over my head a lot of times, but physically I feel OK,” he said.

“It’s fine to let it hurt but then we’ll refocus on the next game. We’ll move on pretty quickly. We want to keep this trophy, to prove people wrong. There’ll be question marks now but, as a group, we believe in each other.”

Wagner and his wife are awaiting the birth of their first child and the paceman could miss the series opener in Wellington.

The Black Caps confirmed on Wednesday that Henry had been called up as cover for the left-armer.

"Matt Henry has been called into the Black Caps Test squad as cover for Neil Wagner who is awaiting the birth of his child," they wrote on Twitter.

"Henry will arrive in Wellington this evening. #NZvIND."

New Zealand go into the two-Test series on the back of a 3-0 ODI series victory following a 5-0 T20 loss.

Beginning their second innings 85 runs in arrears after dismissing New Zealand for 388, the hosts lost Rory Burns for nought to the second ball of the innings – the opener reaching for a Matt Henry delivery and edging to stand-in captain Tom Latham at second slip.

Henry (3-36) got one to nip back at Dom Sibley (8), who could only squirt the ball to Daryl Mitchell in the cordon, and it was 30-3 when the seamer trapped the off-colour Zak Crawley lbw for 17.

Crawley reviewed more in hope than expectation, much like Ollie Pope, whose breezy 23 off 20 balls ended when all-action left arm paceman Neil Wagner brought one back in to the right hander.

Like Burns, Dan Lawrence followed passing 80 in the first innings with a second-ball duck, Wagner (3-18) having him caught behind before Ajaz Patel again exposed the folly of England failing to pick a specialist spinner.

Patel bowled James Bracey (8) sweeping and when Root edged to keeper Tom Blundell when trying to cut the slow left-armer – concluding a painstaking 11 from 61 deliveries – the game was emphatically up for his side.

That brought Mark Wood and Olly Stone together with the score on 76-7, something of an unfair predicament for the two fast bowlers, who worked tirelessly on a fairly benign surface to briefly bring their team back into the contest.

New Zealand had progressed to 290-3, within 13 of England's first-innings total, when Stone (2-92) had Ross Taylor caught behind for 80, with Henry Nicholls (21) falling in similar fashion to Wood (2-85).

Stuart Broad (4-48) had Blundell caught by Root at slip for 34 and got Patel lbw for 20 on review to finish as the pick of the England attack.

By stumps he had been and gone with the bat, bowled by Trent Boult for one after Wagner ended Wood's fun on 29, leaving Stone (15 not out) with only last man James Anderson for company.

Henry was recalled with Trent Boult on paternity leave and the seamer grasped his opportunity on his home ground, taking a stunning 7-23 at Hagley Oval.

The 30-year-old ripped through the Proteas in Christchurch, Henry going joint-third on the list of the Black Caps' best figures by matching Hadlee's haul against India in Wellington back in 1976.

Zubayr Hamza top scored with just 25 in South Africa's lowest Test total against New Zealand, who closed on 116-3 in reply after the tourists dropped four catches in a nightmare start to the two-match series.

Henry was on cloud nine after claiming his first five-wicket Test haul and the joint-best Test figures by a New Zealander on home soil.

The 30-year-old said: "You've got to kind of pinch yourself a little bit when you hear those stats and to be able to share that with Sir Richard Hadlee is pretty special. It was a pretty surreal moment really."

Henry added: "I think just playing here at Hagley and having that experience and knowing what my lengths were and how to operate [were the key ot his heroics].

"As a bowling group I think we bowled really well together and we were able to create pressure at both ends and not really let them go anywhere, which is probably key to how we got the wickets."

Henry has had to be patient to get another chance given the strength of New Zealand's attack but reaped the rewards for staying positive.

He said: "It's not always easy at times, but you try not to focus too much on those external things you can't control and making sure I'm still in that mindset of just trying to keep getting better, and using experiences where I am playing cricket that when I do get my opportunity to take it.

"That's led me to where I am at the moment – where I can keep coming in and stay positive and not get too caught up in those external things and those noises."

Henry Nicholls was unbeaten on 37 at stumps after Devon Conway fell to Duanne Olivier (2-36) late in the day.

Chasing 186 for victory, West Indies slumped to yet another seemingly inevitable defeat characterized by poor shot-making and reckless play.

The West Indies slumped to 49-4 in the seventh over with Kyle Mayers (1), Nicholas Pooran (15), Devon Thomas (1) and Shimron Hetmyer (2) all back in the hutch.

Jason Holder and Rovman Powell tried to accelerate but were out for 25 and 18, respectively as the West Indies slumped to 114-7, needing 72 from the final 32 balls.

Holder’s dismissal brought together Shepherd and Smith whose partnership brought the West Indies within 13 runs of an unlikely victory.

Shepherd hit three sixes and a four in his 16-ball 31 while Smith made 27 from just 14 balls with four fours and a six, but the task proved too great as the West Indies innings closed at 172-7.

Mitchell Santer was the best of the New Zealand bowlers with 3-19 from his four overs.

After the visitors were invited to take the first strike, Martin Guptill and Devon Conway shared in an opening stand of 62 at almost eight runs an over.

It took a spectacular piece of fielding from Shimron Hetmyer to break the partnership in the eighth over when Guptill cut Odean Smith up and over deep point only to see the Guyanese snatch the ball out of the air just as it was about to clear the boundary.

Smith removed Conway next ball caught down the leg side by wicketkeeper Devon Thomas for a 29-ball 43 that included four fours and two sixes.

Glen Phillips went for 17 caught at short fine leg off Holder and Daryl Mitchell was dismissed by Obed McCoy as the West Indies tried to fight back having New Zealand at 144-4 in the 17^th over.

At the other end, Kane Williamson bludgeoned the bowling making 47 from just 33 balls before he became Smith’s third victim with New Zealand 149-5 in the 18^th. The next 15 balls would prove costly, especially the last six bowled by Jason Holder, who was plundered for 23 runs that pushed New Zealand to 185-5. James Neesham's 33 from 15 balls with three fours and two sixes at the death, was instrumental in getting New Zealand to their winning total.

Smith ended with 3-32.

Holder last played for the Windies in the shortest format of the game in India last year.  Recently, however, since the resumption of cricket following an enforced break due to the coronavirus pandemic, he has put in a few notable T20 performances.  In the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), Holder was the Barbados Tridents' third-highest scorer with 192 runs in 10 matches and had a high score of 69.  He also made an impact with the ball after claiming 10 wickets, the second-most on the team.

Despite not being initially drafted to the Indian Premier League (IPL), Holder was called up to replace Mitchell Marsh by Sunrisers Hyderabad where he has made a big impact.  The player has, however, not been included in the T20 squad to face New Zealand later this month.

Simmons, however, pointed to scheduling being more of a factor than anything else for the Holder's omission.

“This is an odd tour.  The T20 series here finishes a day, two days before the Test match.  Being captain of the Test team, the decision was taken by us as a selection panel that Jason would not be considered for that part of the tour,” Simmons told members of the media via a Zoom interview on Friday.

"Seeing that he is coming from IPL now, he will have one chance to play in the four-day game before the Test match, so that decision was taken by the panel,” he added.

"Jason is always in consideration for the T20s.  He has had two good years at CPL and now he has had a good tournament at IPL.”

Playing on his home ground, Yorkshireman Bairstow scored a breathtaking 130 not out, forging an unlikely and unbroken alliance worth 209 runs for the seventh wicket with Jamie Overton as England, in their first innings, recovered from 55-6 to reach 264-6 at stumps.

They were replying to New Zealand's 329 all out, in which Daryl Mitchell converted his overnight 78 not out into a third century of the series. That is the joint-most hundreds by any New Zealand player in a Test series, matching Andrew Jones' feat against Sri Lanka in 1991 and Ross Taylor's three against West Indies in 1993.

He was eventually out for 109, caught smartly by England captain Ben Stokes off Jack Leach (5-100), as New Zealand progressed from 225-5 at the start of play.

Getting close to that score looked beyond England when they made a dismal start in reply, the mercurial brilliance of Trent Boult accounting for the home side's top three as New Zealand's left-armer bowled Alex Lees, Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley.

It was a masterful demonstration of swing bowling, and the situation got no better for England as Joe Root fell for five, caught behind off Tim Southee, before Stokes (18) and Ben Foakes (0) were prised out by Neil Wagner.

Desperate times called for Bairstow brilliance, and the man whose late father David played so many matches on this Leeds ground delivered in remarkable style, driving, pulling and cutting as New Zealand struggled to contain him.

Bairstow drove Boult through mid-off to seal a 95-ball century, the second Test ton he has made at the ground after the 140 that set up an innings victory against Sri Lanka in 2016.

It was his second century of this series and a fourth in Tests for the 32-year-old since the turn of the year, after he also reached three figures against Australia. Across his career, it was a 10th Test ton.

Test newcomer Overton was exceptional too, unbeaten on 89 by the close, setting up what could be a pivotal Saturday.

England lead the three-match series 2-0, with Bairstow and Overton raising hopes of a clean sweep.

MARVEL MITCHELL

Before the Bairstow show began, the man of the day was Mitchell. He has enjoyed a stupendous series, reaching 482 runs from five innings so far.

That is the most runs scored by a New Zealand batter in a men's Test series against England, and Mitchell should get another crack in the second innings too. Centuries at Lord's, Trent Bridge and Headingley mean, even in defeat, he has been able to hold his head high.

WELL, THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY

From a position of peril, Bairstow and Overton took 37.1 overs to add over 200 runs. In the process they achieved England's first ever century partnership for the seventh wicket at Headingley, and then doubled it. Overton is in the side principally for his bowling but looked perfectly nequipped with bat in hand.

Bairstow's highest Test score is the 167 not out he scored against Sri Lanka at Lord's in June 2016, a matter of weeks after the Headingley ton against the same opposition. Going beyond that must be now in his sights.

Root stepped down as red-ball skipper following series defeat to West Indies, leaving England with just one win in their last 17 Tests.

Ben Stokes was subsequently appointed to lead his country in the longest format, with New Zealand great Brendon McCullum charged with transforming England's fortunes in the five-day game.

The new leadership pair's country of birth posed England's first task of the new era, and it was the familiar face of Root who delivered at the crucial time in the first Test.

Root became only the second England batter to score 10,000 runs in the longest format with an unbeaten 115, guiding Stokes' side to chase 277 and take a 1-0 series lead in the three-match series.

Yorkshireman Root is also the 14th player to reach that milestone and achieved the feat at exactly the same age – 31 years and 157 days – as his former team-mate and captain Alastair Cook.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, much of Root's focus was on the impact of not having to stress about the captaincy in his first Test without skippering duties.

"It was tough to step down as captain but I'd thrown everything at it, every bit of myself into it and it had started to have an unhealthy effect on the rest of my life," he said.

"I couldn't leave it in the car or at the cricket ground. It wasn't fair on myself or my family and I want to enjoy my cricket. It's a role that needs so much energy and you can see that within Ben."

The century was also Root's first in the fourth innings of a Test match, and he was delighted to deliver for both England and Stokes.

"I had thrown everything at it [captaincy] and I was determined to help turn this team around. But I realised over that time at home that it would have to be in a different way," he told reporters.

"I'm very excited to do that now, to do everything I can to help Ben turn this team around and make it the force it should and can be.

"I'll do anything I can to help England win Test matches and be a side people enjoy watching and can be proud of.

"It got to the stage where it was time for someone else to lead. I threw absolutely everything at the role. I'm proud of the way that I tried to do that."

Meanwhile, former Australia Test captain Mark Taylor believes Root can surpass India legend Sachin Tendulkar's record 15,921 runs in red-ball internationals.

"Root has minimum five years left in him, so I think Tendulkar's record is very achievable," Taylor told Sky Sports.

"He is batting as well as I have ever seen him bat over the last 18 months to two years.

"He is in the prime of his career, so there is 15,000 runs-plus for him if he stays healthy."

The wicket-keeper-batter was a surprise omission from the hosts' squad for their pair of games over the new year period with the Black Caps.

Rizwan was replaced by former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, who returned to the red-ball fold for the first time since 2019, and was named player of the series with 335 runs.

Reflecting on his absence, the 30-year-old has disclosed that it was at his own instigation he was left out, as he felt his performances had not been up to the level required.

"You can ask the head coach Saqlain Mushtaq what I told him after the end of the England Test series," Rizwan told Cricket Pakistan in an interview.

"I personally thought that since I wasn't able to perform, I didn't deserve to play in the next series."

Following a score of 104 not out against Australia in March last year, Rizwan failed to make a half-century in his following six Test appearances.

When that run culminated with a rough series against England shortly before Christmas, he acknowledged he was not matching his own standards, and was delighted to see his replacement flourish.

"I was happy to see Sarfaraz perform because that is what I wanted," he added.

"Sarfaraz has been performing in domestic cricket and deserves his chance now.

"I asked for his inclusion. Whoever performs best for Pakistan deserves to play. Some players said that every player goes through this phase, and you can't sit on the bench based on few failures.

"But I went to the coach and captain myself and told them that you can drop me because I haven't performed.

"Two players are witnesses to this conversation."

Buttler remains fiercely proud of the 2019 triumph but has made it clear that the four-year-old title carries little weight once the tournament gets under way on Thursday, when England take on New Zealand in a repeat of the previous final.

The attachment to the trophy-winning side is clear – with eight of that squad on duty once again here and a ninth, Jofra Archer, in tow as a travelling reserve – but the captain is eager to draw a clear line under the past.

And that starts with banishing unhelpful terminology.

“I don’t see us as defending champions. We’re not defending anything. I want us to attack so I don’t like the word defending,” he said.

“It may be a motivation for certain teams when they’ve been in that position, but for us it’s irrelevant. It certainly is for me.

“It’s fantastic to be reigning champions and I won’t say we’ve left that behind completely because it’s a nice place to be, but you’ve given that trophy back now.

“It’s done. It’s about trying to create something new. We must be hungry to do it again and try to be focused on something different.

“I think the hunger is there. For most professional sports people, there’s always a want for more, there’s always a desire for more, a hunger for more.

“We wouldn’t be here if we were content with what we’ve done and you’re always excited for the new challenge.”

Buttler was the man who applied the finishing touch that secured England’s first World Cup at Lord’s, completing the run out that separated the two teams on the now defunct boundary countback rule, before taking over as captain for last year’s T20 success in Australia.

Having unified both white-ball crowns, the next seven weeks offer an opportunity to make it three global trophies in the space of four years.

That would be the kind of legacy to put England’s golden generation up with the very best there has been and Buttler is happy to be held to such high standards.

“We’re all dreamers and we all want to be able to say those things,” he said.

“It’s a nice place to be as an English sports team that fans expect you to do well and we’ll try our best for the fans back home and those that make it out here.

“I think the biggest thing is we know we are a team who like being in that position of having expectations on us.

“It’s a great place to be, I’d rather be there than a non-fancied side that nobody thinks has a chance.

“We’ve got some of the best players in the world in our team – that gives us a great chance.”

How much further the current team can take their story is open to debate. There are 11 thirtysomethings in the current squad of 15, including five who will be 34 by the end of the month.

A raft of retirements at the end of the World Cup would hardly be a huge surprise ahead of a new four-year cycle.

“We know we are an older squad than some and that should be a feather in everyone’s cap because of how professional we are to be playing to the standard we are at this age,” Buttler said.

“Age is not the defining factor – and we don’t need to add pressure by saying this is the last one – but I think it’s quite obvious with a few people being where they are at in their careers and the next ODI World Cup being four years away.

“But we’ll do our thing, we always try and enjoy the pleasure of playing for England. It’s a team that’s been together a long time and there’s some great friendships there and this World Cup is part of that story.

“We’ll try and make more great memories and cherish every moment as team-mates, friends and colleagues.”

On that occasion, the Windies showed plenty of grit and determination to beat the much more highly fancied England 2-1.  A similar result against New Zealand would be even more remarkable, however, considering the team’s poor showing against the Blackcaps in recent campaigns.

With the regional team having not registered a Test series win against New Zealand since 2012, it is the Kiwis that have won the last three, with the Windies winning just a match.  The victories included a 2-1 win over the West Indies in the Caribbean in 2014.  Chase, however, believes the upcoming series could be a little different.

“New Zealand is never an easy place to play…but I am feeling something special about this tour.  The energy that I’m feeling from the guys.  The eagerness reminds me of when we played the series against England in the Caribbean,” Chase told windiescricket.com.

“I just really have a good feeling about this one,” he added.

Chase replaced opener Kraigg Brathwaite as vice-captain of the squad.  The West Indies will face-off against New Zealand in two Test and three T20 internationals.

The 29-year-old Blackwood was one of the few bright spots for the Windies on a dismal tour of New Zealand that was capped off by massive innings defeats in a two-Test series.

Blackwood, however, managed to do something the majority of his teammates could not and that is score runs.  The Jamaica-born batsman crafted a determined 104 in the first innings, of the first match, forming a valuable partnership down the order with bowler Alzarri Joseph.  In the second Test, he scored 69, a high score for the second-match batting line-up.

While acknowledging the achievement, the batsman has insisted there is plenty of hard work to be done.

“I did well but it wasn’t enough, because we still lost the two-Test games.  So, I think going forward I need to do better so I can actually win some games for my team,” Blackwood told the Mason and Guest radio program.

The batsman believes a huge part of his success was due to the preparation he put in heading into the series.

“I think my preparation was good.  I really prepared well.  I went to New Zealand and did a lot of work with Roddy Estwick and the batting coach in the nets, doing specific stuff, stuff that I knew I was going to get in the game,” he added.

“A lot of short ball stuff in the nets because I knew I was going to get a lot of that in the game.  So, I already prepared for that in the training session so once I stepped out it would be natural.

“Having been out of the Test arena for years my first series back against England I would say I missed out there.  I told myself once I got into the 90s again, I was not going to miss out.  I’m working hard to get my conversion rate better and get some more 100s.  So, I think I am making some good strides.”

Phillips – playing in just his 13th T20 game for his country – struck a 46-ball ton as the Black Caps amassed a huge 238-3 in a series-clinching victory over West Indies. 

It was the 23-year-old's first international hundred, Phillips hitting eight sixes and 10 fours in total before suffering a recurrence of a freak knee injury he sustained in the first game in Auckland. 

He battled on, but his innings came to an end on 108 from 51 balls when he was dismissed by Kieron Pollard. 

Still, with crowds allowed back at sporting events in New Zealand, Phillips was thrilled to have put on a show in the 72-run win. 

"That's just an incredible day. You don't get them very often, make the most of it," Phillips said. 

"My whole thing is to try and be an entertainer for the crowd and, in that moment, having the crowds back, I wanted to give them something special, the whole team wanted to give them something special. It was amazing for me personally, (that) I could be part of it."

It has been a long slog for Phillips to establish himself in the New Zealand team in the shortest format, having made his T20 debut in February 2017. 

"I had to go back, work on things, and took a step back to be able to move forward again," he added. 

"Then I had the opportunities in the Caribbean [Premier League], which slowly worked my confidence back and I was able to have a couple of good performances, being able to come out against these boys has had a massive part of play in that. 

"To be able to produce the kind of freedom in my performance was the biggest thing for me, and I was absolutely ecstatic. You don't get those very often, and I was going to enjoy it." 

Phillips and New Zealand have one more T20 contest remaining at Mount Maunganui, followed by Test matches against West Indies in Hamilton and Wellington.

The Somerset spinner took 5-66 on day four of England's fourth Test against New Zealand to claim his first 10-wicket haul in the format.

Leach is the first England spinner to take 10 wickets in a Test since Moeen Ali in 2017.

Not since Derek Underwood against Pakistan at Lord's in 1974 had an England spinner claimed two five-fors in a home Test.

Stokes and McCullum have put their faith in Leach and been rewarded; he is thriving under the new leadership, with England on course for a clean sweep in their three-match series against the Black Caps.

"[Under Stokes] it's really attacking, and I am really enjoying bowling attackingly [sic]," Leach told Sky Sports.

"Stokesy's confidence in his decisions but also in us as players – I have never experienced anything like it.

"It is very special to be a part of, and that is credit to Stokesy and Baz [McCullum] for setting that up.

"You realise teams I have played in, the way I have thought, a lot of decisions are made around negativity.

"A lot of four or five-day games you give up on the win quite early, but now it feels like you are always pushing for that win, so there is never really too bad a situation.

"My biggest thing is having belief in myself, and that is what Ben and Baz have helped me with."

Leach's latest impressive showing helped England to bowl out their opponents for 326 in their second innings, leaving the hosts requiring 296 runs for victory in Yorkshire.

Continuing their attacking approach under Stokes and McCullum, England will enter the final day on 183-2 thanks to strong work by Ollie Pope (81 not out) and Joe Root (55 no).

Zak Crawley (25) and Alex Lees (nine) fell early on in the chase, but Pope and Root's unbeaten 132-run stand means England now require just 113 runs with eight wickets in hand.

Should England complete the job on Monday, they will become the first team in Test history to successfully chase a target of at least 250 three times in a single series.

But Tom Blundell (88 no), who became the highest-scoring visiting wicketkeeper in a Test series in England, vowed that New Zealand will give their all to avoid a whitewash.

"This team has been known to fight, and we've got to come out there and do that tomorrow," he said. "You put a couple of wickets on there and you just never know.

"Obviously you've got two guys out there in good form, but if we get one of those, who knows?

"The wicket is deteriorating. A little bit of variable bounce, obviously with the spin as well. It's quite hard to drive with that older ball. 

"It looks like it's going to deteriorate even more, and hopefully we can utilise that tomorrow."