Kiwis reach 61 for one at lunch

New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming won the toss and elected to bat in the three-day cricket match against India 'A' at the Corporation Ground in Rajkot.

India 'A', led by Mohammed Kaif, left out off-spinner Sarandeep Singh, Delhi's Mithun Manhas and middle-order batsman Abhijit Kale from the playing eleven while visitors rested Ian Butler, Richard Jones and Michael Mason from the team.

The visitors had steadily progressed to 61 for one at lunch.

New Zealand openers Mark Richardson and Lou Vincent started off shakily after the visitors elected to bat with Vincent edging Munaf Patel over second slip fielder Hemang Badani.

Both India 'A' pacers Patel and Rudra Pratap Singh bowled a steady line and length and gave no room for the Kiwi openers to play their strokes freely. The host skipper Mohammed Kaif set a very attacking field throughout the first hour of play and the Kiwi batsmen found the runs hard to come by even after Rudra Pratap Singh left the field with a sprained ankle.

Sreeshanth bowled a tight line and length and troubled both the batsmen as his skipper persisted with three slips and two gullies. The visitors could manage just 21 runs in the first hour of play.

Left arm spinner Murali Kartik got India-A team the breakthrough in the morning when he clean bowled Lou Vincent for 11. Vincent faced 48 balls in his 90 minutes of stay at the wicket, hitting two fours.

Skipper Stephen Fleming straight-away attacked Kartik hitting a six and looked in very good nick.

At lunch Fleming was batting on 14 off just 22 balls with a four and a six while left hander Mark Richardson was on 31 off 95 balls with three hits to the fence.

The teams

New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (capt), Nathan Astle, Robbie Hart, Craig McMillan, Jacob Oram, Mark Richardson, Scott Styris, Daryl Tuffey, Daniel Vettori, Lou Vincent and Paul Wiseman.

India 'A': Mohammed Kaif (capt), Sadagopan Ramesh, Akash Chopra, Connor Williams, Hemang Badani, Deep Dasgupta, Murali Kartik, Munaf Patel, Sreesanth, Rohan Gavaskar and R P Singh.

Scoreboard:

 New Zealand 1st innings
 M Richardson batting              31
 L Vincent b Kartik                11
 S Fleming batting                 14
 Extras (lb-2, nb-3)                5
 Total (for 1 wicket in 27 overs   61
 
 Fall of wickets: 1-32.
 
 Bolwing: Munaf Patel 7.4-0-21-0, R P Singh 9.2-4-21-0, Sreeshanth 6-3-3-0, Murali Kartik 4-0-14-1.