New Zealand vs West Indies 2017: 5 NZ players to watch out for in the Test series

#1 Tom Latham

Tom Latham

Tom Latham is easily one of the most improved New Zealand batsman over the last couple of years. Latham has become reliable and consistent across formats, and shown that he can adapt to different conditions and situations.

However, the Canterbury opener didn’t have the best of times against South Africa, as he could score only 74 runs in 4 innings. But his performance before the South Africa series was brilliant and he is currently back to excellent form. He scored 206 at a stunning average of 103 against India in the recently concluded ODI series in India.

With a relatively new opening partner in Jeet Raval, Latham holds the key at the top of the order for the Kiwis. His main challenge will be countering the threat of the aggressive new ball pair of Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel, both of whom are in some very good form.

His contribution, the platform that he provides along with Raval and the way they tackle the new ball, could well determine how well the Blackcaps fare against the Windies.