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Warm-up: New Zealand batsmen on song on Day 1 vs Mumbai

September 16, 2016 17:50 IST

It was not an ideal preparation, but New Zealand made good use of their time in the middle against a mediocre Mumbai attack on Day 1 of their only warm-up match ahead of the three-Test series against India.

New Zealands Thomas William Maxwell Latham plays a shot during the practice match against Mumbai at Ferozshah Kotla in New Delhi on FridayWith the pitch having a thin layer of grass cover, there was little assistance for spinners, allowing the visiting batsmen to bat freely.

Captain Kane Williamson looked comfortable stay at the crease as he went on to strike a quick-fire half-century (50 off 56 balls).

Opener Tom Latham (55 off 97), Ross Taylor (41 off 57) and Mitchell Santner (45 off 59) also made notable contributions as New Zealand declared their first innings at 324 for seven with an hour left for stumps.

Mumbai, in response, were 29 for one in 13 overs, with the talented Arman Jaffer (24) and Kaustubh Pawar (5) at the crease when stumps were drawn.

Left-arm pacer Trent Boult send back opener Jay Bista (0), caught behind from a sharp rising delivery.

The stand out bowler for Mumbai was Balwinder Sandhu Jr, who took two wickets with his gentle medium pace.

The bowling otherwise was pedestrian, especially the spin trio of Vishal Dabholkar, Siddhesh Lad and Vijay Gohil, who hardly troubled the opposition batsmen.

As many as nine batsmen got a hit in the middle with all 15 of the squad members allowed to play in the game.

The first session was entertaining for a handful of cricket fans at the Feroz Shah Kotla as New Zealand reached 117 for two at lunch in 26 overs.

After Sandhu dismissed the out-of-form Martin Guptill, caught behind with an outswinger, Williamson and Latham got going and shared a quick-fire 85-run partnership.

Williamson scored the bulk of the runs in the second-wicket stand and found it easy against the spin, taking a fancy to left-arm orthodox Dabholkar, who ended up with figures of 75 for one from 14 overs.

The Kiwi captain hit six fours and couple of sixes before falling to Sandhu at the stroke of lunch.

Southpaw Latham then got into the act, alongside the experienced Taylor, and hit a flurry of cut shots to go with a couple of big hits in his aggressive knock.

After Latham retired out and Taylor was out lbw to Gohil, Henry Nicholls (29), B J Watling (21 retired out), Mark Craig (33 not out) and Ish Sodhi (29 not out) spent a decent time in the middle.

Specialist spinners Craig and Sodhi got some handy batting practice as they shared an unbeaten 43-run before the declaration.

49 out of the total 75 overs in the New Zealand innings were bowled by spinners -- two of the four spinners who got to bowl, Gohil and Parikshit Valsangkar, are yet to feature in a first-class game.

Rohit Sharma, who is battling for a place in the Test side, came out to field for a little while. He is expected to bat on Saturday.

Brief scores:

New Zealand: 324/7 decl in 75 overs (Williamson 50, Latham 55, Taylor 41; Sandhu 2/21).

Mumbai: 29/1 in 13 overs.

Image: New Zealands Thomas William Maxwell Latham plays a shot during the practice match against Mumbai at Ferozshah Kotla in New Delhi on Friday

Photograph: Atul Yadav/PTI

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