Updated World Test Championship Standings: New Zealand Gets Massive Rise After Thrashing West Indies With 2-0 Victory

New Zealand have made a massive statement in the ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle, climbing to the second spot in the standings following a 2-0 series victory over the West Indies. The Black Caps showcased their dominance at home, by scoring a massive 323-run win in the final Test at the Bay Oval. This win earns them crucial points and proves they are a top team in Test cricket. By moving up the rankings, New Zealand has now set a high standard for other teams competing to reach the final at Lord's.

Jacob Duffy took 5-42 as New Zealand bowled out the West Indies for 138 on a deteriorating fifth-day pitch to win the third test by 323 runs Monday and take the three-match series 2-0.

Duffy surpassed Richard Hadlee's New Zealand record of 80 wickets in a calendar year and finished the series with 23 wickets at an average of 15.4 including three five-wicket hauls. He bowled more than 154 overs as the workhorse of the New Zealand attack in the three tests.

“I saw that list at lunchtime and there were some cool names on there, so to be up there on any sort of list with those sort of names was special,” Duffy, who was voted Player of the Series, said of his bowling record.

New Zealand's win ended a series in which both teams had to cope with significantly depleted pace attacks and in which a slew of batting records fell.

The West Indies were without Shamar Joseph and Alzarri Joseph. Duffy became New Zealand's pace spearhead after injuries sidelined Matt Henry, Will O'Rourke, Ben Sears, Kyle Jamieson, Nathan Smith and Blair Tickner.

The third test was a feast for statisticians. Devon Conway made 227 and Tom Latham 137 in a 323-run opening stand in New Zealand's first innings of 575-8 declared. Conway then made 100 and Latham 101 in a partnership of 192 in the second innings before New Zealand declared at 306-2, leaving West Indies a target of 462 to win after being bowled out for 420 in the first innings.

Conway was the 10th test player and first New Zealander to score a double-century and a century in the same match and he and Latham were the first openers to score centuries in both innings of a test.

Latham and Conway accumulated 515 runs across two innings, a record total for an opening pair. Latham also followed his father, Rod, by featuring in opening partnerships of more than 100 in both innings of a test.

“I don't think it's sunk in yet. It will take some time for me to get my head around what happened in this test match," Conway said, “but I'm really glad we got the win.”

The West Indies made 205 and 128 and New Zealand made 278-9 and 57-1, chasing 55 to win in the fifth innings. Duffy took 5-38 as New Zealand bowled the West Indies in 46.2 overs in their second innings to set up the easy run chase. His first was 5-34 in the first innings of the first test.

(With AP inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

New Zealand Cricket Team West Indies Cricket Team Jacob Duffy Devon Conway Cricket