Departing New Zealand Cricket coach John Wright believes the tour of the West Indies will be a batting war of attrition between two even sides.

Wright and the Twenty20 and ODI sections of the tour party leave for Florida and the Caribbean on Sunday, but despite not having worked together as a team for three months, the coach is confident they will be more than competitive and could knock off one more big goal before he and the Black Caps go their separate ways.

"It will be great to get a series win away from home," he said.

"I personally really enjoy that and I know the team would, too."

Having watched much of the Australian tour to the Carribean through April, Wright believed the key to playing well was to bat time, build innings and wear opposition down.

"The wickets look very, very slow and actually take a lot of turn," he said.

"So it's almost like a war of attrition."

The West Indies have a huge advantage in terms of preparation having hosted Australia then touring England and while Wright would have loved more time with his side, he was adamant they could knock over the quickly improving West Indians even with a number of their stars returning.

"I believe that if we play to our potential, then we can be competitive against everyone," he said.

The side will have five days in Florida before the first T20 match Sunday week (NZ time) and Wright wanted to make sure that time was used as well as possible to make up for their lack of recent training.

"[The lack of time together] is a little bit problematic in some ways," he said.

"It would have been a little bit more satisfactory to get to Australia, but resources are tight. We just have to accept that and get on with it.

"In Miami we'll really have to hit the ground running and hope there are no hiccups, but that's the modern game."

And it's not as if his side haven't been playing.

A number have been training back home, Kane Williamson and Martin Guptill have had stints in County Cricket, some of the side's big names played in the IPL, Dean Brownlie has been playing in Western Australia, Kruger van Wyk in Scotland and Neil Wagner in South Africa. The only injury concerns with the side are Mark Gillespie's ankle which should heal by the time he and the other test specialists join the side next month and Guptill's broken little finger.

The break led to him coming home from a stint with Derbyshire, but is not expected to keep him out of any matches.

- © Fairfax NZ News