BLACKCAPS captain Daniel Vettori won the toss and opted to bat first in the first test against the West Indies at the University Oval in Dunedin today.
The BLACKCAPS suffered a late setback when allrounder Jacob Oram was ruled out with the calf strain he reported before training yesterday.
It is unclear whether the injury will jeopardise Oram's participation in the second and final test which starts in Napier from December 19.
He has been replaced by Kyle Mills while the batting order has been rearranged.
Brendon McCullum will bat up a spot at six and James Franklin is promoted to seven.
Oram's loss is a major blow for the home side after he was sorely missed during the 0-2 test series loss to Australia earlier this month.
The injury-plagued 30-year-old missed the Australian series with a back injury suffered in Bangladesh in October.
The BLACKCAPS omitted spinner Jeetan Patel from their team, leaving Vettori as the sole spinner.
The West Indies have chosen two new caps -- right arm fast bowler Lionel Baker and Australian-born middle order batsman Brendan Nash, who becomes the West Indies' first white test player since Geoff Greenidge played five tests between 1972-73.
The BLACKCAPS have a new opening batsman in left-hander Tim McIntosh while allrounder Franklin will play his first test for almost two years after undergoing knee surgery following last year's World Cup in the Caribbean.
BLACKCAPS: Daniel Vettori (captain), Tim McIntosh, Jamie How, Daniel Flynn, Ross Taylor, Jesse Ryder, Brendon McCullum, James Franklin, Kyle Mills, Mark Gillespie, Iain O'Brien, Jeetan Patel (12th man).
West Indies: Chris Gayle (captain), Sewnarine Chattergoon, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Xavier Marshall, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Brendan Nash, Denesh Ramdin, Jerome Taylor, Daren Powell, Lionel Baker, Fidel Edwards.
Umpires: Mark Benson (England), Amish Saheba (India).
Third umpire: Rudi Koertzen (South Africa).
NZPA
