New Zealand make merry on opening day of warm-up tie

Williamson made 50 and Latham retired hurt on 55 as the visitors made 324 for seven declared on the first day 13 overs before close of play.

Mumbai lost a wicket in the first over itself to Boult and limped to 29 for one by close.

Mumbai won the toss but asked New Zealand to bat on a lively wicket at the Kotla. BS Sandhu took an early wicket when he had Martin Guptill caught by wicket-keeper Tare. Williamson and Latham added 80 runs for the second wicket and too in good time as New Zealand reached their 100 in almost 20 overs.

Sandhu came back and had a well-settled Williamson for 50 when the New Zealand captain chased a wide delivery to edge a catch behind. Latham made 55 before he retired giving his teammates some batting practice.

Left-arm spinner Vijay Gohil got rid of Ross Taylor for 41 but New Zealand raced to 200 for the loss of three wickets. Mumbai seemed to get back with a couple of wickets. However, Santner made a quick-fire 45 to take New Zealand to 300 in 69.4 overs.  Santner faced 59 balls hitting nine fours and a six.

The Kiwi batsmen played positively looking for runs right from the openers to the tailenders.

When Mumbai started their innings, Bista fell to Boult’s third ball but Pawar and Armaan Jaffer handled the new ball cautiously to end the day without further loss. Armaan remained unbeaten on 24.

Brief scores: New Zealand 324 for 7 decl (K Williamson 50, Tom Latham 55 retd hurt, Santner 45, BS Sandhu 2-21) vs Mumbai 29-1.