The West Indies cricket team toured New Zealand in February and March 2006 as part of the 2005–06 New Zealand cricket season. Coming into the series the New Zealand cricket team (Black Caps) and the West Indies had very different fortunes. The Black Caps won their recent ODI series with Sri Lanka 3–1 whilst the West Indies, in November, were whitewashed by the Australians 3–0 and subsequently Australia retained the Frank Worrell Trophy. Both New Zealand and the West Indies were looking to win as many of the One Day Internationals as possible to improve their rankings – New Zealand and the West Indies were, as of 29 January, ranked fourth and eighth respectively. Being ranked in the top six teams meant avoiding having to compete in the preliminary round of that year's ICC Champions Trophy. New Zealand vice-captain Daniel Vettori believed his side was the favourite for the series. "I wouldn't say we're overwhelming favourites but I think we generally start as favourites against most teams at home. Touring teams often take a bit of time to adapt to our conditions and I think we saw a bit of that in the way Sri Lanka began the most recent series. The Windies haven't played any one-day cricket for a while and we're in the middle of our season, so I suppose we are the team to beat. But having said that, if they find their feet they're a very good side and we'll have to play very well to win." The West Indian team arrived in Auckland on 10 February. Soon after arriving West Indian coach Bennett King accused the ICC Future Tours Programme of "benefiting the rich at the expense of the poor". We, like New Zealand, suffer under the conditions of the FTP in terms of our finances. We've had to fly for a long time to get here, and a week lead-in to the first game is right on the cusp of not being ready. It would be much better to have been here with a two-week lead-in, but if we did that we'd have to pay for it ourselves. The tour consisted of 5 One Day International, 3 Tests and a Twenty20 international. The Twenty20 was Chris Cairns' last international cricket game in New Zealand colours. Squads ODI's Fixtures February 16 Twenty20 Auckland note: Chris Cairns' last international match. 18 1st ODI (D/N) Wellington 22