Kensington Oval Barbados pitch report for today match: Bridgetown Barbados pitch report WI vs NZ 1st ODI

Kensington Oval Barbados pitch report for today match: The SportsRush brings you the pitch report of the WI vs NZ 1st ODI.

West Indies will take on New Zealand in the 1st ODI of the 3-match ODI series at the Kensington Oval in Barbados. After winning the T20Is, the Blackcaps would want to stamp their authority in the ODIs as well.

The trio of Shimron Hetmyer, Keemo Paul and Gudakesh Motie has been ruled out of the ODI series ahead of the 1st ODI. Hetmyer is out due to personal reasons, whereas the other two are suffering injuries. The Blackcaps are at their full strength, and Williamson will be playing his first ODI in over two years.

Kensington Oval Barbados pitch report for today match

The Kensington Oval in Barbados is set to host an ODI match after a span of over a year. This ground has not been historically good for batting, and the records of this ground prove it as well. If the batters, want to score runs, they will have to apply their technique at this very ground.

The track at the Kensington Oval in Barbados has been a slowish one, and it has not been easy to bat here. This track gets slows down as the match progresses, and the spinners will play an important part at this very venue. The pacers who can execute the slower balls well will also be effective in Barbados.

First training at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados #WIvNZ pic.twitter.com/beDQf2DrCQ

— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) August 16, 2022

A total of 41 ODIs have been played at this venue, where 23 have been won by the chasing teams. The average 1st innings score has been 236 runs, which suggests that the bowlers have done well. In the last ODI here between West Indies and Australia last year, West Indies bundled out for just 152 runs.

A fresh pitch is expected for this match, so the batters will have some respite, and they would want to take advantage of the powerplay overs. The biggest boundary here is around 76 metres, so the boundaries are not that big as well here in Barbados.