WHANGAREI: New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl against the West Indies in the first one-day international at Cobham Oval in Whangarei on Wednesday.
"It looks like a very good surface... it's certainly what we were hoping for, we'll try and make a few inroads early on," captain Kane Williamson said.
The Black Caps are full of confidence after a 2-0 whitewash in the Test series and Williamson said he backed his men to chase down the tourists' total.
New Zealand have called on the express pace of Lockie Ferguson and brought in George Worker to open the batting in place of the injured Martin Guptill.
Allrounder Todd Astle has also been given an ODI debut, while Doug Bracewell is recalled after a long absence from the national team.
West Indies skipper Jason Holder said his side was buoyed by the return of Chris Gayle to strengthen the batting.
"I'm not too disheartened to be batting first," he said.
"Obviously there'll be some juice in it (the pitch) first up, but our batsman are more than capable of handling it."
The West Indies, ranked ninth in the world, have not won a ODI series in New Zealand since 1995.
"It's a three-match series so we need to get off well and not be catching up all the time," Holder said.
Teams:
New Zealand: George Worker, Colin Munro Kane Williamson (capt), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Todd Astle, Doug Bracewell, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult.
West Indies: Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Mohammed, Jason Holder (capt), Rovman Powell, Ashley Nurse, Ronsford Beaton, Kesrick Williams, Shannon Gabriel.
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