New Zealand were left ruing lapses in the field after their first outing since March ended in a heavy Twenty20 cricket defeat to the West Indies in Florida.

The Black Caps were thumped by 56 runs at Lauderhill, with the West Indies racking up 2-209 after being sent into bat.

Opener Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard did the damage as they put on an unbroken 108-run stand at almost 16 runs an over on Sunday (AEST).

Gayle was not out 85, while Pollard’s unbeaten 63 came off just 29 deliveries and featured 10 boundaries, five of them sixes.

New Zealand got to 8-153 in reply, with opener Rob Nicol top scoring with 32.

Assistant coach Trent Woodhill said the conditions at Central Broward Regional Park indicated 160 would have been a reasonable first innings score.

“So 13 wides, three no-balls, three dropped catches and a missed run-out – there you go,” he said.

“All of a sudden you’re chasing more than 200.”

However, Woodhill was confident the Black Caps would bounce back in the second and final T20 fixture at the same venue on Monday.

“One thing the New Zealand cricket team does is it backs up the next day after a loss and we’ll come out fighting,” he said.

New Zealand finished the match with several injury concerns.

Skipper Ross Taylor landed hard on his left shoulder when failing to hold a chance from Pollard and retired hurt on 10 when batting.

Allrounder Jacob Oram damaged his knee fielding on the boundary and left-arm spinner Ronnie Hira couldn’t bat after dislocating a finger trying to stop a ferocious Gayle drive.