Black Caps v West Indies: New Zealand win series but fall in final match

Samuel Sherry

Journalist·NZ Herald·

22 Jul, 2026 03:45 AM2 mins to read

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Jayden Lennox is congratulated by teammates after taking the wicket of West Indian batter Keacy Carty. Photo / AFP

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The Black Caps came away from their Caribbean tour with an overall series win, but defeat in their final one-day match against the West Indies will leave them disappointed.

This isn’t to say New Zealand put in a poor performance: their score of 268 for nine was the highest first-innings
total from all five matches and Will Young, Nick Kelly and Tom Latham all put up more than 50 runs each.

Central Districts spinner Jayden Lennox took three wickets in the final match, taking his tally for the series to 14, and forcing West Indies captain Shai Hope to play a risky shot and be caught by Kristian Clarke with more than 150 runs still needed.

However, impressive performances by Shimron Hetmyer and Sherfane Rutherford kept the home side in with a chance of victory, with Rutherford putting up a total of 61 before being stumped by Tom Latham and a fifth wicket partnership of 95 runs off 90 balls.

The West Indies started to make a charge toward the mammoth total after struggling against New Zealand’s spinners, but Jacob Duffy took plenty of momentum away from them with two wickets in two balls with five overs to go.