West Indies win toss, bowl in 1st T20 vs New Zealand

Published Dec. 28, 2017 9:11 p.m. ET

NELSON, New Zealand (AP) The West Indies won the toss and chose to bowl Friday in the first of three Twenty20 cricket internationals against New Zealand.

Tim Southee will captain New Zealand in an international match for the first time, taking over from Kane Williamson, who is being rested but will return for the second and third matches.

New Zealand named allrounders Seth Rance and Anaru Kitchen to make their T20 international debuts.

West Indies captain Carlos Braithwaite said he chose to bowl because it was his team's ''strongest suit.'' The West Indies were beaten 2-0 in the two-test series and 3-0 in the three-match one-day series in New Zealand, but as two-time world Twenty20 champions are more at home in the shortened format.

Braithwaite said the tourists had named their strongest team, although Kieron Powell, Sunil Narine and Marlon Samuels were not available for this tour.

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New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Glenn Phillips, Ross Taylor, Tom Bruce, Mitchell Santner, Doug Bracewell, Seth Rance, Tim Southee (captain), Ish Sodhi, Anaru Kitchen.

West Indies: Chris Gayle, Chadwick Walton, Andre Fletcher, Shai Hope, Jason Mohammed, Rovman Powell, Carlos Braithwaite (captain), Ashley Nurse, Samuel Badree, Jerome Taylor, Keswick Williams.

Umpires: Chris Brown and Wayne Knights, New Zealand.

TV umpire: Shaun Haig, New Zealand. Match referee: Andy Pycroft, Zimbabwe.