All posts by csb10.top

Pakistan may not have to suffer the double whammy of Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan exiting at the same time if they do not want to. The latter is open to the idea of extending his international career, but only if the Pakistan board and team needs him to do so. Younis raised the possibility ahead of Pakistan’s Test in Jamaica, having hinted at it during the announcement of his retirement in Karachi two weeks ago.”Yeah, I will think about it,” Younis told before the first Test. “It all depends on if my team needs me. If they request me or people want me then why not? But it all depends on my team.”Given his experience and recent Test form, and given that a tour to Bangladesh this summer will provide a far sterner test of their batting than tours past, a case can be readily made for wanting Younis to stay on. If he scores runs in this Test series, that is likely to increase calls for him to stay on though Younis has said he would prefer to leave with people wanting more from him, rather than overstaying. The selection committee, headed by Inzamam-ul-Haq will also play a role – Inzamam is known to have been keen to move on beyond both Misbah and Younis after the Caribbean tour.Younis announced his decision to retire at the end of the West Indies tour earlier this month, only two days after Misbah did. Together the two batsmen brought close to 190 matches worth of experience to the side, with Younis on the verge of becoming the first Pakistan batsman to score 10,000 Test runs.An example of the influence the pair had on the side came during their tour to England last year, when the side drew the Test series 2-2 and briefly gained the No. 1 ranking. Misbah scored a crucial first-innings hundred at Lord’s in the first Test, while Younis’ 218 in the fourth Test at The Oval, helped Pakistan cling on to the series after two defeats. Their contributions earned them places on list of Five Cricketers of the Year.In a column for ahead of the first Test, Misbah also made public his feeling that the team still needed Younis and that he could continue playing for a year or two.”I talked to him about it in Australia and told him that ‘You can play on’,” Misbah wrote. “Even though we have some very good youngsters in the team, the gap left by Younis’ absence will be difficult to fill.”The Pakistan team will not just miss him as a batsman, they’ll also miss him as a mentor. He has been a terrific role model for everyone and it will be very tough to replace him. Every member of this team, including myself, has learnt a lot from him. He has changed our dressing room culture. If one wants to be successful in professional life, one only needs to regard Younis Khan’s organised and punctual lifestyle from breakfast to bed.”The speculation around Younis’ retirement after the tour of Australia was not as intense as it had been for Misbah, who battled poor form on the tour and came away with a 0-3 series defeat. After scoring an unbeaten 175 in the third Test in Sydney, Younis had said his future plans would depend on what the team needed from him. In April, while announcing his intention to retire, Younis said: “No player always remains fit, the motivation never remains the same, so this is the time when Younis should leave the field after the upcoming series in West Indies.”One of Pakistan’s modern batting greats, Younis’ 17-year-long Test career saw him play 115 Test matches with 9977 runs and 34 Test hundreds, the most by a Pakistan batsman. Younis’ personal best of 313 – against Sri Lanka in 2009 – is the third-highest score by a Pakistan batsman, after Hanif Mohammad’s 337 and Inzamam-ul-Haq’s 329.

Bangladesh have drafted in uncapped left-arm spinner Sunzamul Islam and recalled allrounder Shuvagata Hom to the 16-man ODI squad for the three match series against Sri Lanka starting on March 25. Mahmudullah remained in the ODI squad after the BCB president Nazmul Hassan insisted he wouldn’t be dropped from the format.There were reports in some Bangla newspapers on Monday that Mahmudullah would be dropped from the ODI and T20 squads. From the squad that played against New Zealand in December, Bangladesh have axed Mehedi Hasan and Tanbir Hayder, both spinning allrounders.

Ins and outs

In: Sunzamul Islam, Shuvagata Hom
Out: Mehedi Hasan, Tanbir Hayder

Sunzamul’s inclusion comes on the back of his exceptional form in domestic cricket in the last five seasons. In the recently-concluded domestic first-class competition, he took 25 wickets, including his first 9-wicket haul in an innings. He is also a handy batsman down the order.Shuvagata has also been in decent form in the domestic first-class tournament. He made 265 runs with one century, and took 25 wickets. However, he last played an ODI in 2011.Wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan has been retained in the squad. He had played the last two ODIs in New Zealand after Mushfiqur Rahim was injured in the first game.Bangladesh ODI squad: Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah, Mosaddek Hossain, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Subashis Roy, Sunzamul Islam, Shuvagata Hom, Nurul Hasan

Opening batsman Kieran Powell, who last played an international game in June 2014, has been recalled to the West Indies side for the upcoming three-match ODI series against England, which starts from March 3. Powell’s inclusion follows the batsman’s prolific run in West Indies’ domestic List A competition, the Regional Super50, where he emerged as the highest run-getter, scoring three centuries and two fifties.

West Indies squads

ODI squad: Jason Holder (capt), Devendra Bishoo, Carlos Brathwaite, Kraigg Brathwaite, Jonathan Carter, Miguel Cummins, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Evin Lewis,Jason Mohammed, Ashley Nurse, Kieran Powell, Rovman Powell
WICB Board President’s XI Jahmar Hamilton (capt), Sunil Ambris, Ronsford Beaton, Rahkeem Cornwall, Montcin Hodge, Kyle Hope, Damion Jacobs, Reynard Leveridge, Kyle Mayers, Andre McCarthy, Raymon Reifer, Kemar Roach

The squad does not feature left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn, wicketkeeper-batsman Johnson Charles and offspinner Sunil Narine, who were part of the team in West Indies’ previous ODI assignment, the tri-series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe.Alzarri Joseph, who was first picked and later withdrawn from the tri-series, has also found a place in the squad.If he takes the field on March 3, Kieran Powell will play his first match in the format after nearly three years, having played England in his previous ODI appearance in March 2014. Powell played only one more international match – a Test against New Zealand in June that year – before he was dropped from the squad.The batsman took a self-imposed break from the game, and in January 2015, issued a statement saying that mixed signals from West Indies cricket authorities had left him “deflated and confused” as he attempted to return to international cricket. This resulted in his decision to step away from the game for some time and in January 2016, he tried his hand at baseball, without much success.He finally made a return to first-class cricket in March 2016, featuring for Leeward Islands in the Regional 4-day tournament. Between his exclusion from West Indies sides and his return for Leeward Islands, Powell played four first-class matches – for Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club in Sri Lanka’s first-class Premier League Tournament in February-March 2015.While he played only two matches in last season’s Regional 4-day, he has had a longer run with the team in the 2016-17 domestic season, and has enjoyed better returns. Until December – when the first half of the first-class tournament concluded – Powell had scored 264 runs with two fifties in five matches. In the Regional Super50 competition that followed, his tally of 513 runs from nine matches at an average of 64.12 propelled Leeward into the semi-finals, where they lost to Barbados. At one stage, Powell had five successive fifty-plus scores, raking up 105, 135, 52, 106 and 80.The squad also does not feature allrounder Marlon Samuels, who was cleared to bowl in international cricket by the ICC last week. Samuels last played an ODI in October last year before being dropped from the squad for the tri-series in Zimbabwe.The 15-man squad will have a training camp in Antigua this week, with the team’s new coach Stuart Law. The board also announced the WICB President’s XI team,which will play a practice match against England on February 27 in St Kitts.The first two ODIs will be played in Antigua on March 3 and 5, followed by the final match in Barbados on March 9.

New Zealand are keen to consider injury-hit quick bowlers Adam Milne and Mitchell McClenaghan for the Champions Trophy but head coach Mike Hesson has conceded that getting them enough cricket to prove their fitness will be a challenge.Both players have spent considerable time on the sidelines. Milne, the right-arm fast bowler, has not played since one appearance at the IPL last year due to hamstring, side and elbow injuries while McClenaghan, the left-armer, has recently been out with an ankle problem, following eye and pelvis injuries in 2016.New Zealand are unbeaten at home in ODI cricket this season, following series victories against Bangladesh and Australia during which Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson have provided the pace support to Trent Boult and Tim Southee. They are the four frontline quicks on duty for the series against South Africa which starts in Hamilton on Sunday.Milne and McClenaghan were part of the World Cup squad in 2015 – Milne was a regular in the side until injury ended his tournament after the quarter-final – but the pair’s previous international appearance together came last March, in the World T20 semi-final against England.”Our one-day side has been relatively settled but we’ve had some pinnacle events where we’ve tried to put our best team on the park, such as the Chappell-Hadlee, but we do have some players coming back from injury as well who will need to be considered,” Hesson said. “It will be challenging because there’s not a heck of a lot of cricket for them to play, but the likes of Milne and McClenaghan will certainly have to come into consideration.”Milne was due to make his comeback for a New Zealand XI against the South Africans but the T20 warm-up match was washed out. The challenge for both the fast bowlers, in terms of pushing their cases for the ODI squad, is that the remainder of the domestic season is purely Plunket Shield – the four-day competition – now that the Ford Trophy has been completed.The situation is made more acute in that neither player has made a first-class appearance since December 2015. Both were among the retained players with their IPL franchises for the 2017 edition.However, there is an outside chance that Milne could appear for Central Districts in the Plunket Shield before the end of the season. Last week, their coach Heinrich Malan told the : “There might be an opportunity and we have him on specific workloads to build up that resilience. It’s not just bowling but spending time on the park for four days. We believe that’s something Adam would benefit from and hopefully that falls in with plans from the Black Caps to get over that line.”The New Zealand attack that is currently on the park produced a mixed bag in the T20 against South Africa at Eden Park. Trent Boult, who had claimed 6 for 33 to help clinch the Chappell-Hadlee series earlier this month, continued his fine form with 2 for 8 off four overs but the rest of the bowling was inconsistent.”Trent’s been operating really well for us in the last month, he’s got a lot of confidence but to get 2 for 8 off four overs in a total of 185 is a real anomaly. He was exceptional,” Hesson said. “It’s a shame we weren’t quite able to back him up at other times but you have to recognise how good he was. I thought Colin de Grandhomme did a really good job but outside of that we were pretty loose and got hit both sides of the wicket.”Hesson was also encouraged by Ben Wheeler’s return to New Zealand colours this season, despite the seamer’s expensive returns on Friday.”He has been really good for us. He didn’t have his best day yesterday, but he’s certainly shown he has some really good skills in the T20 format and, hopefully, in general with the white ball moving forward,” he said.The outlook sounded less encouraging for batsman Colin Munro who bagged his third duck in four T20 innings when he was removed first ball by Chris Morris. His other score in that sequence was a century against Bangladesh, but Munro has already lost his place in the one-day squad and now faces a long wait to find out the future of his T20 position, with New Zealand’s next match in the format not until much later this year.”Colin is a matchwinner for us in T20s but there’s no doubt he’s a bit inconsistent,” Hesson said. “It’s something he knows he has to improve. Once he gets a start he’s able to make a major contribution but making that start is the toughest thing. He’s not involved in our one-day [team], so will be playing Plunket Shield and needs to score some runs to get that confidence back.”

Sussex have confirmed that Ross Taylor will re-join them as an overseas player for the 2017 NatWest T20 Blast.Taylor, the former New Zealand captain, was by some distance the most productive Sussex batsman in the competition last year. He scored 394 runs, at an average of 56.28 and strike-rate of 133.10, with his highest score of 93 not out coming in victory over Gloucestershire at Bristol, taking just 48 deliveries and including eight sixes. Eleven men scored more runs in the competition in 2016, but none of them had as high an average or played as few games.Despite Taylor’s form, Sussex failed to progress beyond the group stages of the competition. His return, alongside the long-term signings of Stiaan van Zyl and David Wiese (both as Kolpak registrations; Wiese also had a spell at the club in 2016) and Laurie Evans, a destructive T20 batsman from Warwickshire, should strengthen them.Taylor will be available for the entire T20 campaign which, in 2017, does not start until July.”We are thrilled to have Ross joining us for the T20 competition,” Mark Davis, the Sussex head coach, said. “He was outstanding in the competition last season and to have him back is brilliant for the club. Not only is Ross a world class player but a fantastic role model to our younger players.”

ScorecardFile photo – Rob Nicol dominated an opening stand of 71 to set up Auckland’s successful chase of 176•Getty Images

Half-centuries from opening batsmen Rob Nicol and Glenn Phillips steered Auckland to a seven-wicket win, as they chased down 176 in their Super Smash clash against Otago. Auckland also benefited from handy cameos by Colin de Grandhomme (30 off 14) and Jeet Raval (21 off 12) as they chased the target with two overs to spare at the University Oval in Dunedin. Otago had put up 175 for 7 after winning the toss, riding on contributions from the middle order.Nicol dominated the opening partnership of of 71, scoring 51 of those himself. He was stumped off Rhys Phillips’ leg spin in the ninth over, having struck three fours and as many sixes in his 36-ball knock. Glenn Phillips then shared partnerships of 51 with Raval for the second wicket and 38 with de Grandhomme for the third. He saw his team through by staying not out on 62 off 44 balls that included five fours and two sixes.Earlier, Otago’s middle order pulled them from 13 for 2 in the second over to 175. Hamish Rutherford, the captain, struck 42 off 27 balls and shared a 36-run fourth-wicket stand with Josh Finnie, who top-scored with an unbeaten 45. A late cameo from Brad Wilson who blitzed 30 off 15 balls gave them a strong finish.Pacers De Grandhomme and Donovan Grobbelaar took two wickets each, while left-arm spinner Ben Horne took one. The win, Auckland’s fifth in nine matches, took them to second place on the points table.

At a time when Australia’s batsmen are mired in a damaging pattern of failures, Joe Burns has returned to the Test fold with confidence derived from breaking out of his own.Until the first round of this season’s Sheffield Shield, Burns had an almost comically poor record in matches involving a pink ball. The inaugural day-night Test at the Adelaide Oval offered up scores of 14 and 11. That followed a similarly underwhelming run in floodlit Shield matches, despite Burns making extra efforts to learn – he did his own extra training against a pink ball away from the Australian side.After two poor Test matches in Sri Lanka against the spinning red ball, Burns was cast out of the national side. But, when his stocks seemed lowest, Burns was able to find a way against the pink ball. His well-struck hundred for Queensland at the Gabba against New South Wales, against an attack featuring Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood no less, means Burns will bring a much more positive vibe to Hobart than he might otherwise have.”I guess it was a nice experience to make runs against the pink ball, in particular because there’s a [day-night] Test match in Brisbane,” Burns said. “Obviously, that’s a long way down the track from here, but I think as players, the more you play against the pink ball and the more confident you get against it as a batter, you certainly do feel more comfortable going into each pink-ball game.”With the pink ball, the game’s played a little bit differently to the red ball, so just those experiences as a batter – where you can look to make your runs, where you’ve got to be a bit more cautions and the way the game ebbs and flows. In Brisbane anyway, it’s certainly a lot different from red to pink ball.”The duel with the Blues was willing and vocal, placing Burns in a decent frame of mind to face South Africa at Bellerive Oval from Saturday as the replacement opener for Shaun Marsh. “There was a bit of banter there, which is fantastic. You want to see guys playing the same way for their stats as you do for your country,” he said. “And I guess that’s a strength of the Shield competition, so it was a very enjoyable challenge.”When those boys are up and firing, it certainly spurs you on to bigger heights, and it was very satisfying to make some runs in that game. One of the things that you look back on and feel confident in, and know that you’re hitting the ball really well against good opposition, and then, hopefully, carry that into a Test match against South Africa. But in saying that, it’s a new set of bowlers, new conditions, and you still have to prepare as best you can for this Test match.”Burns said he learned a lot from the experience of losing his place in Sri Lanka, a perspective that will also be relevant entering a team that has just lost the first Test of a home summer for the first time in 28 years. “Sri Lanka was my first Test loss and first series loss, so it was a tough tour,” Burns said. “It was tough because I wasn’t making runs personally as well. But I guess that’s part of the challenge of cricket, part of the challenge of playing for Australia.”You always want to be making runs. You always want to be winning cricket games for your country, so you do everything you can to turn it around and try and get back to winning those matches. I think the experience within the group, we’ve had a lot of a success as a team and as individuals that there’s no doubt we can turn it around.”We just have to prepare well, go out and take up the challenge in that second Test match. We’ve got no doubt we can certainly turn it around. Obviously, a lot of hard work will go into it, but, certainly, very confident going into the rest of the series.”

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsGraeme Cremer followed his hundred in the first innings with a dogged 43•Associated Press

Graeme Cremer soaked up 175 balls and 121 dots to lead another lower-order rally and raise Zimbabwe’s hopes of saving their 100th Test, but Sri Lanka dug deep into their reserves to secure a hard-earned victory with 45 balls to spare.When the last hour began, Zimbabwe needed to bat out 15 overs with Cremer on 41 and No. 10 Carl Mumba on 3. Both batsmen played close to their bodies with a straight bat, blocking single-mindedly, and leaving Sri Lanka on the tenterhooks. They negotiated four more overs before Cremer jumped out of the crease and attempted an injudicious flick against the turn, off Rangana Herath, and was stumped for 43. He had faced 351 balls across both innings, the second-most by a No. 8 in a Test behind Wasim Akram’s 363, which incidentally came against Zimbabwe in 1996.Nineteen balls after the key wicket of Cremer, Dilruwan Perera knocked out Chris Mpofu’s off stump to wrap up Sri Lanka’s 225-run victory.Cremer entered the fray at 100 for 6, seven overs after lunch, after Zimbabwe had lost their last five wickets for 32 runs. He first added 39 for the seventh wicket with Sean Williams in 19.4 overs before marshalling Mumba in a 38-run ninth-wicket stand that lasted 19.1 overs.Cremer endured a nervy moment when he padded up to a straight delivery from Herath, but umpire Ian Gould turned down the bowler’s appeal, with ball-tracking backing up his decision, indicating the ball would have missed off stump. Cremer shook that off and soldiered on. His first boundary came off his 53rd ball when he drove a Suranga Lakmal half-volley through extra cover.It was Williams who laid the groundwork for Zimbabwe’s fightback. He showed restraint, taking 21 balls to get off the mark, before unfurling his range with paddle-sweeps and even reverse-sweeps against the spinners.Williams went onto make 40 off 92 balls, before Herath struck with the fourth ball after tea, getting him to nick to slip. Herath sensed an opening and broke through six overs later when he had Donald Tiripano lbw for a 21-ball duck. It was a dubious decision from Gould, though, with replays detecting an inside edge onto the pad. He should have been out off the previous ball he faced – a Herath arm ball struck his front pad in front of middle and leg – but Gould did not budge.Sri Lanka secured victory with 45 balls left in final session of the final day•AFP

The cloud cover that had built up during tea moved off and Sri Lanka then strained every sinew. Herath brought out the carrom ball from wide of the crease, and even tried to shake things up with part-time legspinner Kusal Mendis. The second new ball ultimately snuffled out Zimbabwe’s dogged resistance.In the morning Lakmal swung the first new ball and teased Zimbabwe’s openers in the channel outside off after Sri Lanka had declared overnight, keeping in view the rain threat and setting Zimbabwe a target of 412 in 98 overs. Brian Chari struggled to even put bat on ball in the early exchanges, failing to get fully forward or go fully back against Lakmal’s awayswingers and Herath’s arm balls. To compound his woes, Chari attempted to sweep Herath against the turn, but the top edge did not carry to fine leg or deep square leg.It was the extra pace of teenage debutant Lahiru Kumara that ended the tentative 31-run opening partnership. In his first over, an inducker at 141kph burst through Chari’s defences and sent the off stump cartwheeling.Once the swing faded, Lakmal briefly peppered the batsmen with short balls from around the wicket with a leg slip, forward short leg, and square leg placed halfway to the boundary, but it was reverse-swing with the old ball that provided him the breakthroughs. In the space of three balls, he coaxed a couple to veer back into Hamilton Masakadza and Malcolm Waller to trap both lbw.It came after Dilruwan had struck twice in nine balls to remove Tino Mawoyo for 37 and Sean Ervine for an eight-ball duck. Mawoyo was adjudged lbw by Simon Fry, though the slider from Dilruwan was comfortably missing leg stump with the angle from over the wicket. Ervine, though, was pinned plumb in front by a full delivery that drifted in and then turned away.Zimbabwe lost four wickets for only six runs and later Herath worked his way past Cremer and the tail to give Sri Lanka their first away Test win after seven matches, on captaincy debut.

A bonus-point victory increasingly looked a possibility for Karnataka after they ground Delhi on the second day of their Group B fixture at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Resuming on 131 for 3, Karnataka almost batted the entire day to make 414. When the last wicket fell, in what was to be the final ball of the day, they had opened up a lead of 324.Despite five of their batsmen unable to kick on after crossing fifty, their good performance with the ball on the opening day – Delhi were bowled out for 90 after S Aravind’s four-for – meant Karnataka had made enough ground to push for seven points.Karun Nair, the captain, and Kaunain Abbas, playing in just his second first-class match, put together 89 for the fifth wicket after Ishant Sharma struck in the second over of the day when he had nightwatchman Abhimanyu Mithun poking an away-swinger to the wicketkeeper. For close to a session, Delhi’s spinners were rendered ineffective on a surface that had considerably eased out as both batsmen milked singles quite comfortably.Halfway through the second session, Delhi’s bowlers had respite against the run of play when Nair and Abbas fell. Stuart Binny briefly entertained in his 32, before chipping a simple return catch to Vikas Tokas. Karnataka’s batting depth then surfaced, with Shreyas Gopal (46) and CM Gautam adding 77 for the eighth wicket. Karnataka added 47 for the last two wickets, before Varun Sood, the left-arm spinner, picked up the last wicket to finish with 4 for 80. Gautam remained unbeaten on 63.Shahbaz Nadeem’s first five-for this season helped Jharkhand nudge ahead•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Shahbaz Nadeem’s 7 for 74 helped Jharkhand snatch a two-run lead over Rajasthan in Vadodara. That, after Rajasthan, in reply to Jharkhand’s 209, put together 100 for the first wicket, courtesy fifties from Manender Singh and Vineet Saxena. Nadeem scythed through the middle-order with his left-arm spin as Rajasthan lost their last seven wickets for 61. Jharkhand lost Anand Singh early, but Virat Singh’s 35 and Pratyush Singh’s 33 not out helped extend the lead to 75, with eight wickets in hand when stumps were drawn.Jaydev Shah became the first Saurashtra captain to score a double century as Maharashtra’s bowlers, who nearly conceded a lead despite scoring 600-plus against Delhi last week, were run ragged again. Jaydev (217), who has scores of 193, 64 and 0 so far this season, put on 174 for the sixth wicket with Chirag Jani (100 not out), before Saurashtra declared on 657 for 8.There were contributions from Sheldon Jackson (105) and Cheteshwar Pujara too. Pujara, returing to the domestic circuit in a bid to get match ready ahead of the Test series against England, made 93. He was the first man to be dismissed on the day, in what was to be a rare moment of cheer for Maharashtra. They ended on 18 without loss, trailing by 639.No play was possible between Vidarbha and Assam in Trivandrum because of rain and a wet outfield. Vidarbha, who chose to bat, will resume on 254 for 3, with Ganesh Satish (93) and Ravi Jangid (31) at the crease. Sanjay Ramaswamy, the opener, made 83 and shared a 131-run second-wicket stand with Ganesh to consolidate Vidarbha’s innings on the opening day.

ScorecardSuccessful overseas batsmen in India have often been successful by lofting the ball over the infield. Even in the days of in-and-out fields, when Alastair Cook scored 562 runs including three hundreds in 2012-13, the most runs by a visiting batsman in a four-Test series in India, he relied on the lofted shots both for runs and also to get rid of the close-in fielders. On their first day of play on the Indian tour, New Zealand batsmen used the loft liberally to suggest it will be the shot they will go to often in the Tests.Albeit on a non-threatening track against a non-threatening attack, New Zealanders made their intent clear as everybody apart from Martin Guptill got a hit in in their score of 324 for 7 declared. There was no hanging about either as they gave Mumbai 13 overs to play before stumps, and took a wicket during that period. The declaration gave them a good chance of having a proper second innings.Two of the wickets were retirements to allow others a chance to bat. Incidentally, the two who gave up their batting, Tom Latham and BJ Watling, were the ones who batted at a more sedate pace. Apart from the two, and Henry Nicholls, everybody struck at more than 70. Apart from Guptill, who scored 15, everybody crossed 20, including fifties from Kane Williamson and Latham. Targets in particular were the spinners, whose 49 overs were taken for 230 runs. Two of these spinners were part-timers, and two others yet to make their first-class debuts.Another heartening news for New Zealand will be that their lower order and lower-middle order – crucial on raging turners – was among the runs. Watling looked comfortable in his 21, Mitchell Santner and Mark Craig ran away to 45 and 33 not out, and Ish Sodhi scored a slightly streakier 29.Every batsman that faced spin played the lofted shot early in the innings. That leaves out Guptill, who got out even before spin came on, but he had started the day with a hooked six in the first over of the match. A Mumbai attack missing its spearhead Shardul Thakur and with left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar – average of 31 – as its best spinner was then punished. Williamson stepped out repeatedly to loft Dabholkar over mid-on. He went back to taking singles once the fielder was pushed to long-on, but went aerial again as soon as Dabholkar called the fielder back up. Latham once swept Dabholkar for four from way outside the off stump. The intent – on a friendly surface against friendly bowlers – was clear.Balwinder Sandhu, with healthy swing but at a gentle pace, was the only shining light for Mumbai. He got the wickets of Guptill and Williamson in the first session with outswingers. As the day wore on, though, Mumbai made more and more use of spinners. Ross Taylor made use of the cut shot before lofting legspinner Parikshit Valsangkar into the sightscreen. Facing his first over of spin, Nicholls came down the wicket to loft left-arm spinner Vijay Gohil for two fours. Santner did the same to Gohil as soon as he came out to bat. Craig reserved the same treatment for Dabholkar.New Zealand had just one three-day warm-up game to get used to the conditions before going into the first Test in Kanpur. As has become the norm world over, the hosts did them no favours by giving them a pitch that looks nothing like the raging turners that teams expect in India nowadays. Also they had a second-string Mumbai side to face with their best players playing for India A in Australia. New Zealanders’ success with their ploy of using their feet and the lofted shots needs to be seen in that light, but one thing was clear: they showed enough signs they are not here to play passive cricket, which South Africa, at times, might have been accused of in India’s last home season.