Day two: BLACKCAPS 210-6 (BJ Watling 50, Luke Ronchi 41*, Peter Fulton 30) and 112-6 drew with a Jamaican XI 171-9 (Neil Wagner 5-38, Mark Craig 3-17)
Neil Wagner opened his tour of the West Indies with a five wicket bag on the second day of the drawn two day warm-up match against a Jamaican XI at Trelawny.
The Jamaican XI resumed on day two at 94-5, after the BLACKCAPS had declared at 112-6 at tea yesterday. Wagner was straight into his work with two early wickets, both clean bowled, and then the last of the day gave him his five wicket bag.
Leg spinner Ish Sodhi collected the only other wicket today as the home side declared at 171-9, 59 runs ahead of the BLACKCAPS first innings total.
Overall it was a good outing for the BLACKCAPS bowlers with off-spinner Mark Craig taking three wickets for 17 on the first day before he was rested today with a tight quadricep muscle.
With the bat in the second innings, BJ Watling had some solid time in the middle to top score with 50 as did Luke Ronchi (41 not out). BLACKCAPS captain Peter Fulton spent a good couple of hours at the wicket to reach 30, including two sixes. New Zealand were 210-6 at stumps.
BLACKCAPS Head Coach Mike Hesson says the key objective for the match was ensuring the players who haven’t had much cricket recently got some time out in the middle.
On the spinning front, Craig was spot on with his first few overs on day one and deserved his trio of wickets, says Hesson.
“For the pace bowlers these slow wickets are in many ways even harder to create wicket-taking opportunities as the nicks simply don’t carry - you have to find other ways.”
“Neil kept charging in and he picked up some key wickets which will give him a lot of confidence.”
The BLACKCAPS next match is against a Jamaican XI in a three-day warm-up match in Trelawny starting on Monday.
Day one: BLACKCAPS 112-6 (Tom Latham 33, Ish Sodhi 22*, Luke Ronchi 21) Jamaican XI 94-5 (Mark Craig 3-17)
New Zealand: Peter Fulton (c), Hamish Rutherford, Tom Latham, BJ Watling, Jimmy Neesham, Luke Ronchi, Ish Sodhi, Mark Craig (sat out day two due to quad tightness), Neil Wagner, Trent Boult, Myron Wilson and Dhane Johnson (local players).