New Zealand A were 300 for eight at the end of first day’s play, courtesy centuries by Corey Anderson and Anton Devcich, after their top order caved in to the India A pace attack at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.

The visitors had lost opener Neil Broom without a run on the board to Dhawal Kulkarni after opting to bat first in the four-day game. 17 runs later, they lost Carl Cachopa and the centurion in the previous game, Luke Ronchi, off consecutive overs to Kulkarni and Imtiyaz Ahmad respectively. A while later, NZ A captain, Tom Latham, was trapped leg-before by Shrikant Wagh, leaving the team reeling on 43 for four.

Anderson and Devcich then garnered runs to shape the NZ A innings and set up a platform for a respectable total. The two left-hand middle-order batsmen built a 165-run partnership for the fifth wicket. The partnership ended with Anderson edging Rakesh Dhruve to wicketkeeper CM Gautam, after reaching a ton. He was followed back into the hut by Derek de Boorder who was run-out for one. But Devich continued to carry the innings forward and reached his century. The batter was finally sent back by Jalaj Saxena for 115 when the NZ A total was 275. The off-spinner also accounted for the wicket of Todd Astle who had played a valuable supporting role to Ronchi in the first game.

Doug Bracewell and Ish Sodhi then took the visiting team to the 300-run mark and were unbeaten on 12 and 14 when stumps were called.

Brief scores:

Day 1 – New Zealand A 1st innings300/8 in 89 overs (A Devcich 115, C Anderson 100, D Kulkarni 2/26, J Saxena 2/69)