Match overview
New Zealand beat West Indies by 323 runs in the Bay Oval Test on 18 December 2025, one of the most comprehensive victories in this fixture's recent history. Devon Conway scored 327 off 506 balls and Tom Latham added 238 off 376 balls as New Zealand posted 575/8 in their first innings, a total more than 360 runs above Bay Oval's historical average of 211. West Indies replied with 420 but never threatened to make the game competitive. A second-innings declaration of 306/2 left West Indies needing 462 to win; they were bowled out for 138. Conway took the player-of-the-match award.
New Zealand won the toss and chose to bat, a decision that shaped the entire contest. Two batters passing 200 in the same innings transformed what could have been a hard-fought game into a one-sided exercise. West Indies' first-innings 420 showed some resistance, but a deficit of 155 runs was always going to be too large to overcome once New Zealand pushed their second-innings lead beyond 460.
JA Duffy's 9 wickets for 128 runs across 57.5 overs was the bowling performance that sealed the result. West Indies' second-innings collapse to 138 confirmed that, once the pitch began offering assistance, their batting had no answer.
Venue and conditions
Bay Oval has hosted 55 matches in total. The average first-innings score across those games sits at 211, and the average second-innings score is 199, suggesting the surface does not change dramatically between innings under normal circumstances. This match was an outlier: New Zealand's 575/8 was nearly three times the venue's first-innings average, pointing to exceptional batting conditions on day one and two.
The toss has historically pushed teams towards fielding first at Bay Oval, with the team winning the toss choosing to field in 65 per cent of matches. New Zealand bucked that trend here by electing to bat, and the decision was vindicated comprehensively. Chase success rate at the ground is 44 per cent across 55 matches, meaning teams defending a total have won slightly more often than not. Given the fourth-innings target of 462, that statistic was rendered academic.
Powerplay and death-phase data for this match was not separately recorded in our split-phase figures, as is typical for Tests where overs-based phases are tracked differently. What the four-innings totals do confirm is that the pitch offered enough throughout to reward both patient batting and disciplined seam bowling across the full five days.
How to watch
Test cricket between New Zealand and West Indies is available in the UK on Sky Sports Cricket, with live and on-demand streaming through Sky Go and NOW TV. For subscribers without a full Sky package, a NOW TV day pass is the most flexible route. BBC Radio's Test Match Special provides ball-by-ball commentary for select fixtures, though availability varies by series; check the BBC Sport website for scheduling.
New Zealand play across multiple time zones, so UK viewers should confirm daily start times via Sky Sports listings. This match took place in December 2025, and highlights and full replays are available through the Sky Sports app for subscribers.
Recent form
New Zealand entered this Test having won four of their last five completed fixtures against West Indies in 2025, with one match producing no result. That sequence runs through matches at Basin Reserve, Seddon Park, McLean Park, and Hagley Oval before this Bay Oval finish, making it one of New Zealand's stronger home series campaigns in recent memory. Across 71 all-time meetings, New Zealand's 45 wins to West Indies' 17 tells its own story about the general balance of power in this fixture.
West Indies' recent form record from the same five-match run shows four losses and one no result. They did come within 7 runs of a win at Hagley Oval in one of those meetings, which suggests the gap is not always as large as the overall head-to-head implies. Bay Oval, however, gave West Indies no such foothold. New Zealand's batting depth, underlined by three of their batters appearing in the top scoring performances at this venue on record, proved the decisive factor across the full course of the game. The two sides will next meet in the context of their ongoing series schedule, with New Zealand having now established a significant psychological and statistical advantage heading into any future encounters.
