New Zealand affirms their claim on the T20I series by 2-1: Player Ratings from New Zealand’s T20I series triumph against West Indies 
Captain Kane returns in the All Black colours of New Zealand in style by registering a 2-1 victory over the Caribbean side in their homeland. West Indies managed to pull off a fightback in the third T20I but it wasn’t enough to save their pride at the Sabina Park of Kingston, Jamaica. Let’s take a look at the player ratings and detailed performances report of Team New Zealand from this series.
Top Order
Devon Conway (8/10): The star South African-born Kiwi opener returned to the T20 international cricket in style after a year-long halt. Conway played fiery innings of 43 runs off 29 in his comeback game to announce his contention in the national side of the shortest format right before the mega event. He then went on to score 42 runs in the following fixture and finished the series as the second-highest run-getter with 106 runs under his helm.
Kane Williamson (6/10): The last time Williamson turned up for the white-ball game before this series was the Grand Finale clash of the 2021 ICC T20I World Cup against arch-rivals Australia. He did take part in the away Test series against England in June 2022 but was given rest for the European limited-overs campaign against Netherlands, Scotland and Ireland. The Blackcaps skipper announced his awaited comeback with a bang and emerged the highest run-scorer of their 13-run victory in the first fixture.
The 32-year-old kick-started his second innings by striking a boundary on the first ball but unfortunately got caught out by Obed McCoy in the very next delivery. In the final game of the series, he got a good start but couldn’t convert it into a big one and also remained quite slow with a strike rate of 88.89. A 24-run stand brought his individual tally to 75 and also got him into the Top 5 run-getters of the T20I series.
Martin Guptill (4/10): A forgettable away T20 international series for the veteran opener is having a stiff run before his speculated final T20 World Cup assignment. The 35-year-old crossed the double-digit mark in every inning of the series but could eventually score only 51 runs from three games. In the final T20I, Guptill once again surpassed the Indian captain Rohit Sharma to become the highest run-scorer in the T20I format.
Middle Order
Glenn Phillips (9/10): The New Zealand cricket team is thoroughly enjoying the bull run of this 25-year-old middle-order batter. The South African-born Kiwi batsman who had a dream limited-overs campaign against Ireland replicated the same performance in Caribbean islands too. He was adjudged as Player of the Match for his magnificent innings of 76 runs striking 4 fours and 6 sixes from 41 balls.
Glenn ‘The Big Bull’ Phillips
Phillips then went on to score quickfire 41 runs off 26 balls to take the Kiwi innings to the respectable total of 145 in the final game. He was honoured with the Player of the Series award for fetching 134 runs from three innings averaging 44.67 at an astonishing strike rate of 171.79 through the campaign.
Daryl Mitchell (6/10): The explosive middle-order batter is having a great run in international cricket for the past few months. Mitchell failed to make it big in the first and last fixture but turned up in the second one where they sealed the T20I series. He played a quickfire stand of 48 runs from just 20 balls at a strike rate of 240 and had an 83-run partnership with Glenn Philips for the fourth wicket which played a crucial role for the Kiwis to cross the 200 mark.
All-rounders
Mitchell Santner (8/10): The man who capitalised on the absence of Kane Williamson most and led New Zealand to the T20I triumphs against the likes of Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands. Santner had to hand over his captaincy to the first-choice skipper Williamson in this series but continued the great run with his all-round skills.
He broke the myth of him being an economical option rather than a wicket-taker and proved his point by fetching most wickets from the Kiwi camp in the series. It’s quite an achievement for the spin-bowling all-rounder to emerge as the highest wicket-taker that too in the presence of the big guns like Boult, Ferguson, Sodhi and Southee.
An underrated gem in the shortest format of cricket
He received the Player of the Match honour for striking three wickets and with the lowest economy of 4.8 in the first T20I. Then he once again went on to pick three wickets in the following game to end up on six wickets with the best economy rate among bowlers who bowled seven or more overs.
James Neesham (7/10): Jimmy did not get many opportunities in this series but still was able to impress everyone in limited chances. In the opening T20I, glittering late fireworks of 33 with a 220 strike rate from the 31-year-old helped them to reach out to the defendable total. Kane had plenty of bowling options in this series hence Neesham was given only a single over throughout the three games.
Michael Bracewell (7/10): The in-form knight of the Blackcaps was left out from the Kiwi Playing Eleven in their triumph at the first fixture. In his first appearance of the series, Bracewell had a pivotal contribution to the victory by thrashing the opposition middle-order and registered the magical bowling figures of 3/15 in four overs. However, he could not replicate his bowling feat with the willow and scored only seven runs from two innings.
Bowlers
Lockie Ferguson (7/10): The Auckland pace had an impressive outing from the opening game where he dismissed Devon Thomas early in the final over of the powerplay phase. However, he was given rest in the following game and was brought back to the Kiwi lineup for the third and final fixture. Lockie could not open his wicket account in the dead-rubber encounter but his economy rate was lowest in that game as he finished his four-over quota by giving away just 16 runs.
Ish Sodhi (6/10): The Blackcaps leggie who was New Zealand’s highest wicket-taker in the T20I series against Ireland and Scotland experienced a bit of decline in this campaign. Sodhi and Tim Southee were the only Kiwi bowlers who picked at least a wicket in each fixture of the series. He fetched three wickets from three appearances however his economy rate of 8.83 was something that Kane must have not expected.
Tim Southee (6/10): The veteran pacer was quite expensive throughout the campaign as his inflated economic rate caused tension for the New Zealand management. During the first T20I, they had a tough task to defend 185 against Windies where Southee’s economy rate of 11.5 gave a major drawback to the Kiwi hopes. In the dead-rubber fixture, he gave them a breakthrough by putting a full stop on the 102-run opening partnership of Brandon King and Shamrah Brooks.
Trent Boult (5/10): The strike Kiwi gun seemed off-colour in this series as it was evident that he was not able to give his 100% on the field. The Caribbean all-rounder Jason Holder’s caught-out dismissal in the opening game remained his only wicket from this series. Boult was later on excluded from the Playing Eleven for the final fixture and replaced by another speedster Lockie Ferguson.
