New Zealand bolstered by return of full-time captain, name ODI squad for Windies tour

Mitchell Santner has fully recovered from the shoulder injury he suffered during the IPL and returns as New Zealand's captain for their five-match ODI series against West Indies, starting July 11 in the Caribbean.

Jacob Duffy, who was on paternity leave and missed the three-match Test series against England, also returns to the squad. Mitchell Hay has also been named in the ODI squad as the backup wicketkeeper for Tom Latham, as Devon Conway has been allowed time off to be with his second child following his recent birth. Conway had also returned home for the same during the gap between the first and second Tests against England.

Right-arm pacer Blair Tickner is set to undergo surgery and has been left out. Fast bowler Matt Fisher comes in to replace him. Will O'Rourke, Muhammad Abbas, Adi Ashok, Josh Clarkson, and Dane Cleaver have been left out of the squad that played a three-match series against Bangladesh recently.

Rachin Ravindra is set to feature in Major League Cricket (MLC) and therefore has not been named in the ODI squad based on a pre-agreed arrangement with New Zealand Cricket.

Gavin Larsen, the head selector, believes that the away series against Windies followed by the two at home against India and Sri Lanka, will help them and the head coach Rob Walter in zeroing in on the make-up of the squad for the ODI World Cup 2027.

"We've got the 2027 World Cup, it's starting to bear down on us," Larsen told the media. "It's back end of 2027, but the real context is that we don't have a plethora of ODI cricket between now and then. There will be a couple of mini-series that are leading into the World Cup, but they would be series where we would be probably fine-tuning and putting the icing on the cake with the World Cup squad.

"So there's a heck of a lot to play for in these ODIs coming up in the Windies from a players' perspective and also looking through a selection lens. So Rob [Walter, the head coach] and I will be watching closely and… I don't think there'll be any doubt that we'll be exposing the majority of the players in the squad.

"So it's already crystal-ball gazing. Rob, being South African, of course, can offer some really good intel in terms of how pitches might play, kick-off times, day-nighters versus day-games, opposition, etc. So we're starting to have those conversations now around how we might look to balance in a perfect way the playing XI and how we might need to test combinations in the Windies and then through into the Indian series."

New Zealand squad for ODI series vs West Indies

Mitchell Santner (c), Michael Bracewell, Mark Chapman, Kristian Clarke, Jacob Duffy, Matthew Fisher, Dean Foxcroft, Mitchell Hay (wk), Nick Kelly, Tom Latham (wk), Jayden Lennox, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Ben Sears, Nathan Smith, Will Young.

New Zealand's ODI tour of the Caribbean