Preview: West Indies v New Zealand, 1st Test

Kingston, Jamaica is all geared up to open the season of international cricket in the Caribbean Islands. Barring the short tours by England and Ireland in February, this is the first real big home series of the season, and to make it extra special, it will also be hometown hero Chris Gayle's 100th Test match for the hosts.
Under an injury cloud for most of the year, Gayle hasn't been at his dominating best, something that his Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, Royal Challenges Bangalore (RCB) realized to their horror. After RCB's exit from the tournament, Gayle jetted off to Germany for treatment before joining the West Indies camp for the series against New Zealand. A 100
celebrations, but it is also an emotional moment, and not many players have managed to deal with the emotions attached with it. While Gayle will surely command a raucous welcome at the Sabina Park, will he play an innings to remember?
It is not just Gayle who will have nervous moments before the Test. Denesh Ramdin, anointed as the new leader of the West Indies Test squad, replacing Darren Sammy, will lead the team out in the middle. The wicketkeeper batsman, not a certainty in the squad three seasons ago, has the enormous task of shaping the immediate future of the team.
West Indies: It is not that the hosts are completely dependent on Gayle to fire. Kraigg Brathwaite and Kieran Powell opened in the absence of Gayle in New Zealand, but the return of the big man will mean one of the two batsmen will have to sit out. Kirk Edwards showed some form and consistency after being recalled on the tour to New Zealand, while the middle order looks stable, shepherded by the class of Darren Bravo, the enigmatic Marlon Samuels and the evergreen Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
While the batting unit looks settled, Ramdin will welcome the return of Kemar Roach and Jerome Taylor to the bowling ranks. Roach, who was sidelined with injuries makes a comeback into the national squad after a year. On the other hand, Jerome Taylor, is poised to play his first Test for West Indies in five years. Once, the most promising duo in the Caribbean Islands, both bowlers will look to make up for lost time.
Shane Shillingford, reported for bowling with an illegal action, during the Indian tour in November 2013, is back with a remedial action, but he still can't bowl the doosra, which has been under scrutiny. Leftarm spinner, Suliemann Benn is back as well, and will form the twopronged spin attack.
New Zealand: The Kiwis have arrived in the Caribbean islands on an aura of positivity. The
home season was capped with series wins against West Indies and India. While the performance in the T20 Cup turned out to be less than stellar, the visitors have been on the right track, as far as the longer format of the game is concerned.
Skipper Brendon McCullum has led the team from the front. He was in imperious form against the Indians, cracking a double hundred at Auckland, and followed it up with a triple hundred the first New Zealand batsman to do so at Wellington. If there is one area of concern, it is the openers Hamish Rutherford and Peter Fulton have struggled to give decent starts while Kane Williamson has shown plenty of talent, but hasn't converted it into runs at the Test level. Ross Taylor was in excellent form when these two sides met late last year, scoring 495 runs in the 3match series and being dismissed only twice.
The bowling complimented the batsmen in home conditions, but on the slow and low Caribbean decks, they will have to bend their backs to trouble the host batsmen. Trent Boult and Tim Southee are proving themselves as a valuable combination, and Neil Wagner has been the perfect foil to the pair.
Ish Sodhi and Mark Craig, the two raw spinners in the camp will have a big role to dry in conditions that should favour them. They were expected to only support the seamers at home, but will have to do much more than that over the next three weeks if New Zealand are to emerge victorious.
Team News:
West Indies added Jason Holder to the 13man squad and will compete with Shannon Gabriel for a place in the final XI. If Gayle plays, Braithwaite is the most likely candidate to miss out.
Luke Ronchi has been ruled out of the first Test with a chest infection, but with BJ Watling well settled with the gloves, the visitors will not be all that perturbed. They will ponder over their spinning options though. Both, Sodhi and Mark Craig performed well in the warmup encounter while Tom Latham might have to wait for his chance at the top of the order.
Stats:
Denesh Ramdin will be the 35th captain for West Indies, he will also be the 10th from Trinidad and Tobago to lead the national side.
Chris Gayle, who will be playing his 100 Test, needs to score another 67 runs to complete 7000 career Test runs. He will be the 8 landmark.
Marlon Samuels needs another 17 runs to complete 3000 career Test runs.
Peter Fulton needs another 34 runs to complete 1000 career Test runs while Kane
Williamson needs another 34 runs to complete 2000 career Test runs.
Quotes:
The bowling has been doing well over the last couple of years (but) we don't normally bat well twice in the Test match and that is something we have to look close at Darren Bravo realizes the need for consistency with the bat.
It's quite hard to see how they actually police that. It's all very well saying it, but do they call a batsman back if he bowls a doosra? New Zealand's coach, Mike Hesson wants explanation over the status of Shane Shillingford, who has been reported for illegal action.