returns to the side for the Test<\/a> series.<\/p>\nThe Black Caps beat West Indies 3-1 in the T20 series and 3-0 in the ODI series.<\/p>\n
While those results may have looked convincing, Walter admits they were close and expects even more from the tourists in the longest version of the game.<\/p>\n
“They’ve got a really good seam attack, some dangerous batters and can bat for long periods of time so from a team point of view [we have to] respect the game of cricket and be prepared for the contest.”<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/4KF2UJ3_TON_jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nNew Zealand’s Kane Williamson celebrates his century against England, Hamilton, 2024.
\nPhoto: PHOTOSPORT\n<\/p>\n
Walter said the key is to play the game they want to play.<\/p>\n
Of the 14 Tests played at Hagley Oval only once has the side winning the toss decided to bat first.<\/p>\n
“Traditionally Hagley plays a certain way and so while we have a strong idea of most likely how it will play I still think our best skill is our adaptability.<\/p>\n
“We’ll prepare with something in mind but we know the game of cricket can easily throw something at you that you’re not ready for so we need to be ready and adapt to that.”<\/p>\n
This series also marks the start of the Black Caps cycle in the latest World Test Championship.<\/p>\n
“Winning at home is important, but it is not the be all and end all because we have started to see how teams can win away from home.<\/p>\n
“If there are any conditions you do understand you trust it to be your own so we’ll be looking to start strong and lay down an marker early in the World Test Championship.”<\/p>\n
BLACKCAPS squad for Test Series v West Indies<\/p>\n
Tom Latham (c) Canterbury<\/p>\n
Tom Blundell (wk) Wellington Firebirds<\/p>\n
Michael Bracewell Wellington Firebirds<\/p>\n
Devon Conway Wellington Firebirds<\/p>\n
Jacob Duffy Otago Volts<\/p>\n
Zak Foulkes Canterbury<\/p>\n
Matt Henry Canterbury<\/p>\n
Daryl Mitchell Canterbury<\/p>\n
Rachin Ravindra Wellington Firebirds<\/p>\n
Mitchell Santner Northern Districts<\/p>\n
Nathan Smith Wellington Firebirds<\/p>\n
Blair Tickner Central Stags<\/p>\n
Kane Williamson Northern Districts<\/p>\n
Will Young Central Stags<\/p>\n
1st Test NZ v West Indies, Hagley Oval, 2-6 Dec<\/p>\n
2nd Test NZ v West Indies, Basin Reserve, 10-14 Dec<\/p>\n
3rd Test NZ v West Indies, Bay Oval, 18-22 Dec<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand Blackcaps coach Rob Walter Photo: Andrew Cornaga\/www.photosport.nz Black Caps coach Rob Walter doesn’t expect his side…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-162972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz","18":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}