Live cricket score: West Indies (WI) vs New Zealand (NZ), 3rd Test, Day 1, New Zealand Tour of West Indies, 2014

New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first on a wicket that is expected to be uneven. West Indies will hope for their new ball bowlers to make early inroads using the bit of moisture that is in the wicket.

Here's what the captains had to say:

Denesh Ramdin: It looks a fantastic pitch for batting. He is very exciting. We go for horses for courses. Blackwood misses out and Hodler comes in. Shillingford comes in for Gabriel.

Brendon McCullum: We are going to bat first. Neil Wagner comes in for Ish Sodhi. The pitch is a bit abrasive. Wagner can revere-swing the ball later on, he could be an useful weapon. We have had some guys standing up and performing well.

New Zealand (Playing XI): Tom Latham, Hamish Rutherford, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Brendon McCullum(c), James Neesham, BJ Watling(w), Neil Wagner, Tim Southee, Mark Craig, Trent Boult

West Indies (Playing XI): Chris Gayle, Kraigg Brathwaite, Kirk Edwards, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Denesh Ramdin(w/c), Kemar Roach, Jason Holder, Jerome Taylor, Sulieman Benn, Shane Shillingford

Opting to bat first, New Zealand suffered an early blow as Hamish Rutherford was out caught to Kemar Roach in the 4th over. The left-hander was lured into driving on the up on the leg-side, and Shivnarine Chanderpaul pouched an easy low catch to give WI a vital breakthrough.

Tom Latham has been New Zealand's stand-out player throughout this series. He has not only stood tall and got his team to solid starts, but has also been their key player when their team is struggling.

His wicket was one the Windies would have been hoping for and Roach gave them just that. The right-armer already had a close one against Latham with the opener getting an LBW call overturned. This time, however, there was nothing to save Latham as he was trapped plumb in front by an inswinger.

Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor steadied the New Zealand side with a superb fifty-run stand. The duo had to subdue a vibrant West Indies attack, who were buoyed by early wickets, and they did exactly that with some sensible batting.

Taylor was the more fluent off the two, but the right-hander was not careless by any means, only opting to put away the bad balls. Williamson, at the other end, was as steady as ever as he and Taylor put on a 50-run stand to take NZ to 95/2 at Lunch.

West Indies struck early into the session to put themselves back on top as Suliemann Benn struck to send back the well-set Williamson and give Windies a early break in their 2nd sessiom.

Williamson was pushed into playing from the backfoot for a good length delivery, but the spin took it past the batsman, caught the edge and settled at slip.

Ross Taylor too departed soon after as a Kemar Roach delivery rose up sharply to catch his glove. The ball looked like it would land safely but a diving Suliemann Bravo pulled of a stunning one-handed catch to give Windies their second wicket of the session.

Brendon McCullum started in a hurry, smashing Kemar Roach for two boundaries in an over as the NZ captain tried to erase the setback suffered by the double blow. He along with the in-form Jimmy Neesham put on a counter-attacking fifty-run stand.

Just when Brendon McCullum looked set to unleash one of his characteristically belligerent knocks, he was back in the pavillion courtesy some horrible shot selection. Benn dropped one short, but McCullum could only top edge an attempted pull that Darren Bravo took with ease.

BJ Watling too did not offer much resistance as he was out caught at slip to Benn to give WI their 6th wicket and leave the visiting side in deep trouble.

West Indies did well to take 5 wickets, but the Kiwis have chipped away with 122 runs in 28 overs at a healthy rate of 4.38. After the wicket of McCullum, New Zealand also lost the wickets of BJ Watling and Tim Southee cheaply as they slumped to 217/7 at Tea, on Day 1.

Jimmy Neesham continued his fine form as he notched up a superb fifty to life NZ close to the 250-run mark. The left-hander came in at a difficult time for the visitors and saw off some tough bowling to see his way through and put on a fifty run stand with tail-ender Mark Craig.

Against the run of play, New Zealand lost the wicket of the well-set Jimmy Neesham. The left-hander tried to steal a single at the end of the over, but Kraigg Brathwaite's fine throw to the bowler had Neesham well short of the ground.

The wicket came at just the wrong time for New Zealand, who would have hoped for Neesham to carry on and take their team's score past 300.

Jimmy Neesham late fightback, hitting a fine fifty under pressure, helped New Zealand close in on the 300 run-mark before WI ran through the tail and restricted the visitors to 293. Suliemann Benn was the star for the hosts taking his 4th fifer while Roach proved his class with a four-wicket haul.

Chris Gayle continued from where he left off in the 2nd Test as he went on the counter, smashing Trent Boult for a massive six before slamming Craig for three fours in an over. West Indies ended day 1 without any setbacks, at 32/0 after 9 overs - trailing by 261.