Cricket: New Zealand ask West Indies to bat

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New Zealand captain Ross Taylor won the toss and sent West Indies in to bat in the Super Eights group one match at Pallekele stadium on Monday.

Both teams need to win the match to remain in the hunt for a semi-final place, with England and Sri Lanka playing the second game in the group later Monday also bidding for the last four places.

New Zealand, who lost to Sri Lanka in a Super Over finish before going down by six wickets against England, brought in all-rounder Jacob Oram and spinner Ronnie Hira in place of Kane Williamson and Daniel Vettori.

West Indies, who had beaten England by 15 runs in their first Super Eights match before losing to Sri Lanka by nine wickets in their second, replaced injured Dwayne Bravo and Fidel Edwards with Samuel Badree and Darren Bravo.

Dwayne suffered a groin injury and failed a fitness test before the match.

New Zealand: Ross Taylor (capt), Martin Guptill, Rob Nicol, Brendon McCullum, Jacob Oram, James Franklin, Nathan McCullum, Ronnie Hira, Kyle Mills, Tim Southee, Doug Bracewell.

West Indies: Darren Sammy (capt), Darren Bravo, Samuel Badree, Johnson Charles, Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels.

Umpires: Asad Rauf (PAK) and Aleem Dar (PAK)

TV umpire: Simon Taufel (AUS)

Match referee: Javagal Srinath (IND)