In conditions, that were only slightly more helpful to the pacers owing to the overnight rain and slight cloud cover early on, New Zealand A’s top-order failed to fire after an inspired opening burst from Dhawal Kulkarni and Imtiaz Ahmed left them reeling on 43 for 4.
Tom Latham won a second straight toss and opted to bat. But an hour into the day’s play, Abhishek Nayar, the India A captain, must have felt it was a good toss to lose.
Kulkarni struck in the second over of the day to dismiss Neil Broom (0) with an outswinger that took the edge to the wicketkeeper. That was followed by a testing eight-over spell where New Zealand A added just 15 runs. Carl Cachopa’s efforts to break the shackles resulted in him top-edging a pull to Imtiaz at deep fine-leg. When Luke Ronchi (0), the centurion from the first game, edged an Imtiaz delivery to Unmukt Chand at second slip, New Zealand A were reduced to 17 for 3.
While Kulkarni and Imtiaz made the new ball talk, Shrikant Wagh, who replaced Aniket Choudhary in the playing XI, was guilty of bowling too short and was punished by Latham and Anderson. But a poor shot across the line resulted in Latham being adjudged leg before to Wagh to expose the middle order in the first session itself.
New Zealand A found their hero in Anderson, who took the attack to the bowlers, even as Devcich took his time to settle in. In the next three hours New Zealand A hardly put a foot wrong as the batsmen feasted on some loose bowling. Anderson’s positive footwork against the spinners, Saxena in particular, unsettled India A for a while as the scoring rate picked up considerably in the post-lunch session.
Devcich, cautious to begin with, opened up and attacked the spinners to force Nayar into bringing back his seam bowlers. As the partnership between Anderson and Devcich flourished, the desperation in the Indian camp was evident. That turned into lapses in concentration when Devcich offered two chances on either side of tea with Chand and Nayar being the culprits.
The fourth-wicket stand of 165 was finally broken by Rakesh Dhruv, the left-arm spinner, when Anderson was caught behind playing back to a full delivery. That allowed India A to claw back into the contest with the wickets of Derek De Boorder (1) and Todd Astle (17) to ease into the tail.
Doug Bracewell (12) and Ish Sodhi (14) then resisted for nearly 12 overs with spinners operating from both ends with light quickly deteriorating.
But, in between a testing opening spell and a slow finish, Devcich played the anchor’s role and Anderson provided the punches in a three-hour exhibition of enterprising cricket that was the hallmark of the day’s play.