New Zealand get game time under their belts

Despite being comprehensively outplayed by an impressive Indian side in a rain-affected warm-up match at The Oval, three of New Zealand’s key men believe the game will have benefited their squad as the ICC Champions Trophy gets underway this week.

Jimmy Neesham, who hit an unbeaten run-a-ball 46 and then took the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan as New Zealand’s bowlers attempted to defend 189 said, “We got some overs under our belt and those who have been playing T20 got a chance to spend some time getting used to this format. We played a lot of cricket together over the home summer but it takes a game or two to click back into how things were and we’re pretty confident that come the first game against Australia we’ll be fully firing.”

Wicket-keeper Luke Ronchi, who got New Zealand off to a flying start with 66 from 63 balls, added of the game, “In the middle period we probably tried to do too much – we need to go back to our plans and build a score. The bowlers did what they do well, they tried to swing it but we left too many runs out there. The good thing is we’ve got time to tinker with things and iron them out.”

One of five seamers used by the Black Caps, Tim Southee said, “It’s our first hit as a group – some of us have been in India and some in Ireland – and now we’ve had a couple of days’ training, it’s nice to get out there and play. The last time we were in England, a couple of years ago, the scores were really high, and we know the bowlers have to be at the top of their game – we have to rise to the challenge of playing on good wickets. It’s a nice problem to have that all 15 guys are pushing for places.”

New Zealand next take on Sri Lanka in a warm-up game at Edgbaston on Tuesday 30 May and their first game in the tournament proper is on Friday 2 June against Australia at the same venue.