New Zealand 187 for 7 (Phillips 55, Munro 53, Brathwaite 3-28) beat West Indies 140 (Fletcher 27, Brathwaite 21, Rance 3-29, Southee 3-36) by 47 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite won the toss and chose to bowl in the first T20 against New Zealand at Nelson.
Otago batsman Anaru Kitchen made his international debut for New Zealand. He plays in an inexperienced middle order alongside Glenn Phillips and Tom Bruce. Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill are the more accomplished batsmen in the side. There was no room for Henry Nicholls.
On the bowling front, Seth Rance – the Central Districts seamer – also made his debut, in an attack featuring Doug Bracewell, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, as well as stand-in captain Tim Southee.
West Indies picked one uncapped T20 player as well – batsman Shai Hope playing his first international in the format. Hope, however, will not be keeping wickets as he had been in the ODIs, with Chadwick Walton having also been picked in the XI. Seamers Jerome Taylor and Kesrick Williams, and spinners Samuel Badree and Ashley Nurse, made up the frontline attack.
The match is the first ever T20 international at Saxton Oval. Though West Indies are world champions in this format, they are missing high profile players in this match, including Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine and Marlon Samuels.
New Zealand: 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Colin Munro, 3 Ross Taylor, 4 Glenn Phillips (wk), 5 Anaru Kitchen, 6 Tom Bruce, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Doug Bracewell, 9 Tim Southee (capt.), 10 Seth Rance, 11 Ish Sodhi
West Indies: Chris Gayle, Andre Fletcher, Shai Hope, Jason Mohammed, Chadwick Walton (wk), Carlos Brathwaite (capt.), Rovman Powell, Ashley Nurse, Kesrick Williams, Jerome Taylor, Samuel Badree
Source: ESPN Crickinfo