Lennox’s five-for levels the series as New Zealand skittle West Indies at Providence
A career-best five-wicket haul from spinner Jayden Lennox skittled West Indies for 138 at Providence, and New Zealand cruised home to level their Caribbean ODI series with three matches still to play.
Jul 14, 2026
New Zealand squared their one-day series in the Caribbean on Monday, and they did it with the ball turning square. Jayden Lennox spun through West Indies for 138, and the Black Caps knocked off the runs with plenty to spare at Providence to make it one apiece with three to play.
The five-match series had started with West Indies on top. They chased down 268 with seven wickets and seven balls in hand in the opener, riding a composed chase that made the target look smaller than it was. Providence, two days later, offered a very different pitch and a very different game.
Lennox turns the game on its head
West Indies were 63 without loss and looked comfortable. Then the spin arrived. Lennox, a left-arm spinner who only made his international debut at 31 and was playing his seventh one-dayer, found grip and bounce that the batters could not read, and the innings folded around him. He finished with 5 for 19 from his eight overs, his first five-wicket haul in international cricket, and the collapse was total: from 63 without loss to 138 all out in 36 overs.
Those are the third-best figures a New Zealand spinner has managed in a one-day international, and they came out of nowhere for a bowler who has spent most of his career waiting for a chance. John Campbell was the only West Indies batter to make the surface look playable, top-scoring with 43 before the lower order was picked apart.
A chase that was never as simple as the target
A target of 139 sounds like a stroll. On a pitch doing that much, it was not. New Zealand slipped to 96 for 5 and, for a spell, the game hung in the balance, with West Indies sniffing an unlikely defence of a small score.
Tom Latham settled it. The wicketkeeper stayed calm through the tricky middle passage, finished unbeaten on 37, and saw his side home with 104 balls to spare. The margin, five wickets, flattered a chase that had wobbled more than the scorecard suggests, but New Zealand will not care. They wanted the series level, and they got it.
Series poised at 1-1
Two games in, this tour has already given both sides something to think about. West Indies will worry about how quickly a strong position turned into a heap of rubble once the ball started gripping. New Zealand will take heart from a bowler nobody expected to be their match-winner, and from a senior head who does his best work when the situation is awkward.
With the series level and three one-dayers still to come, the next result swings the balance for real. If Providence keeps producing surfaces that reward spin, the team that reads the conditions quickest is likely to walk away with it.