Day three: BLACKCAPS 132-9 decl (Ross
Taylor 55*) and 203-9 decl (Kane Williamson 47, BJ Watling 30, Jimmy Neesham
28*) beat a Jamaican XI 90 (Mark Craig 4-8) and 122-9 decl (Ish Sodhi 5-35,
Trent Boult 2-8) by 123 runs.
Mark Craig has put himself in contention for Sunday’s opening Test against the West Indies as his four wickets helped the BLACKCAPS comfortably beat a Jamaican XI by 123 runs today.
The Otago Volts off-spinner snatched three wickets in one over and was on a hat-trick at one point as Jamaica collapsed in their second innings to be all out for 90 chasing 214 runs for victory on the final day of the three day warm-up match in Trelawny.
The 27-year-old finished with figures of four wickets for eight runs from his four overs, with a change to going round the wicket seeming to do the trick on the turning pitch.
BLACKCAPS Mike Hesson said while Craig had impressed on a turning surface, Boult and Southee had set the tone with the new ball.
The pace duo had the locals reeling at 3-3 straight after lunch with an lbw wicket each after Boult had the opener caught at extra cover.
Then enter Craig who along with fellow spinner Kane Williamson ripped through the rest of the Jamaican batsmen before Neil Wagner wrapped up the innings and the victory grabbing the last wicket not long after tea.
Earlier in the day, Ross Taylor continued his rich vein of form at home this summer with a half century despite the challenging conditions. He finished on 55 not out, including seven fours, to take his side to 132-9 declared at lunch.
Hesson said Taylor showed his skill and experience in adapting to the conditions and capitalising on a slightly better pitch today. He said generally the surfaces were not of good enough quality for our batsmen to gain real benefit from.
Today’s match was played on a new strip after the pitch used for the first two days was declared dangerous by the umpires. But the new strip was too wet to start on time at 10am today and play was finally underway 40 minutes later with plenty of tennis ball bounce in the wicket.
After the BLACKCAPS secured the victory they kept bowling until the 5pm scheduled finish as further bowling practice.
Tomorrow the BLACKCAPS head to Kingston for the first Test starting on Sunday at 10am Jamaican time (3am Monday 9 June NZ time).
Day two: BLACKCAPS 65-7 and 203-9 declared (Kane Williamson 47, BJ Watling 30, Jimmy Neesham 28*) Jamaican XI 122-9 declared (Ish Sodhi 5-35, Trent Boult 2-8)
A consistent spell from leg spinner Ish Sodhi was a bright spot on a tough second day for the BLACKCAPS in their three day warm-up match against a Jamaican XI.
After one wicket in the morning session at Trelawny, the Northern Districts spinner was charging after lunch as he took four quick wickets to finish with figures of five for 35 from his 11.5 overs.
Play started half an hour earlier than the scheduled 10am start today due to yesterday’s last session being lost to rain. After reaching 203-9 before declaring yesterday, the BLACKCAPS made an instant breakthrough today with Trent Boult removing the Jamaican opener lbw in his first over.
The BLACKCAPS spinners Sodhi and Mark Craig were into their work early and had the ball doing all sorts on the turning pitch. They picked up a wicket each before lunch, while Corey Anderson looked dangerous with a swinging ball to collect his first wicket of the tour.
At lunch the home side was 94-4, but Sodhi’s magic saw him collect four in the afternoon along with one more to Boult. The Jamaican XI declared at 122-9.
BLACKCAPS Head Coach Mike Hesson said Sodhi used good pace and adapted nicely to the conditions.
“Ish got more consistent as the innings went on and he produced a number of wicket-taking deliveries. Mark also bowled well while Corey had a strong spell in the morning session.”
The last session was not a bright one for the visiting team with the BLACKCAPS losing seven wickets for 65 runs on a deteriorating pitch.
Large cracks in the pitch, which lead to it being dangerous, have meant another strip will be used for tomorrow’s final day of the match.
On Thursday the BLACKCAPS head to Kingston for the first Test starting on Sunday at 10am Jamaican time (3am Monday 9 June NZ time).
Day one: BLACKCAPS 203-9 (Kane
Williamson 47, BJ Watling 30, Jimmy Neesham 28*) v Jamaican XI
The BLACKCAPS made 203 (declared) before rain called off the last session on the first day of the three day warm-up match against a Jamaican XI at Trelawny.
After winning the toss, the young pair of Tom Latham and Hamish Rutherford opened the batting but sadly didn’t last long with Latham caught at mid-off for 16 and Rutherford going soon after lbw for 10.
Kane Williamson, straight from English county cricket, and Ross Taylor, fresh from his stint in the IPL, saw the visitors through to 73-2 at lunch. Not long after the break there was a mini collapse with Williamson going lbw three runs short of his half century and Taylor chopping on for 23, while opener Peter Fulton, batting at five, went without scoring.
BJ Watling put up the best middle order resistance with 30 before he was beaten by spin, while Jimmy Neesham (28*) and Ish Sodhi (21*) fought hard for the last wicket.
With the BLACKCAPS heading out to bowl, the heavens in Trelawny opened and heavy rain stopped play. Just before 5pm play was called off for the day with the visitors not having bowled a ball.
BLACKCAPS Head Coach Mike Hesson said there were a lot of starts today but he would have liked to have seen some of those players go on to bigger scores.
“We weren’t too far away from where I would have liked on a slow pitch and with a very slow outfield. We should have probably made at least 300.”
New Zealand: Peter Fulton (c), Hamish Rutherford, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Tom Latham, Corey Anderson, BJ Watling, Luke Ronchi, Jimmy Neesham, Mark Craig, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Neil Wagner, Trent Boult (all 14 players will be used at some stage during the match).
