Make or break for Windies against weakened NZ

Southee and Williamson have been rested for the series. © Getty

There have been three internationals and two practice games thus far, and the visiting Windies side is yet to taste success in New Zealand. Windies have not won an ODI since July 2, 2017. The last time they won two successive games was way back during the 2015 World Cup. Yet, with all these numbers stacked up against them, the struggling side can look at their next two ODIs with a sense of optimism.

Windies now meet the hosts for the second One-Day International at Christchurch, and will see the game as perhaps their best opportunity to break the duck.

New Zealand are a weakened side now, after regulars Kane Williamson and Tim Southee are rested for the series. The hosts still go into the game as favourites, and need one more solid performance to wrap up the series - they lead the series 1-0 after a five-wicket win in the first ODI. But they will know Windies will try and come back hard, and they will have to make do without two of their best.

Windies themselves have a couple of selection headaches, with Chris Gayle still unsure about featuring in the playing XI due to an illness. But if Gayle does recover in time, the visitors might just look at upseting the apple cart.

When: 11:00 AM local time, 3:30 AM IST, 10:00 PM GMT (Dec 22)

Where: Hagley Oval, Christchurch

What to expect: Cloudy weather and favourable pace bowling conditions should have the fast bowlers licking their lips in anticipation.

Team News:

New Zealand: As mentioned above, New Zealand will be without Kane Williamson and Tim Southee. Neil Broom should come in for Williamson while one of Matt Henry or Seth Rance could replace Southee.

Windies: The visitors will struggle to replace Gayle if the opener is unfit for the game. In that case, one of the Hope brothers could fit in at the top of the order.

What they said:

He's in good spirits . . . Chris is always a bubbly guy, he's full of jokes, he's still that normal way, so just hoping he can recover well enough to take a further part in the tour: Windies coach Stuart Law.

"To me, it's probably more about trusting your game, more than trying to go out and change things. Cricket is a funny game. Sometimes you can middle one in the gap or sometimes it can go straight to the fielder. It's important for me to make sure I keep trusting my game and go from there," Tom Latham

Squads:

New Zealand (from): Colin Munro, George Worker, Neil Broom, Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (c), Henry Nicholls, Mitchell Santner, Todd Astle, Doug Bracewell, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult, Matt Henry, Seth Rance.

West Indies (from): Jason Holder (c), Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Shai Hope, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Mohammed, Rovman Powell, Ashley Nurse, Ronsford Beaton, Kesrick Williams, Shannon Gabriel, Kyle Hope, Sheldon Cottrell, Nikita Miller, Chadwick Walton