New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori won the toss and elected to bat first in the opening one-day cricket international against the West Indies here on Wednesday.

"If you know the reputation of this wicket, it's got a bit of pace in it," Vettori said.

History also favours New Zealand, who have won five of the six completed one-day internationals previously played on the Queenstown wicket.

New Zealand have bolstered their pace bowling line-up for this match with the inclusion of Mark Gillespie in the side ahead of off-spinner Jeetan Patel.

The West Indies, however, will be without one of their star players with Shivnarine Chanderpaul out with a hand injury.

The match, the first in a five-game series, is due to start in fine weather at noon (2300 GMT) but with the possibility of showers later.

Teams:

New Zealand: Jesse Ryder, Brendon McCullum, Jamie How, Ross Taylor, Daniel Flynn, Jacob Oram, Grant Elliot, Daniel Vettori (captain), Kyle Mills, Tim Southee, Mark Gillespie. Jeetan Patel (12th man).

West Indies: Chris Gayle (captain), Sewnarine Chattergoon, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Xavier Marshall, Brendan Nash, Kieron Pollard, Denesh Ramdin, Jerome Taylor, Nikita Miller, Fidel Edwards, Lionel Baker. Shawn Findlay (12th man).

Umpires: Mark Benson (ENG), Tony Hill (NZL)

Television umpire: Evan Watkin (NZL)

Match referee: Javagal Srinath (IND)