Spearman century heads up good day for New Zealand

A century for Craig Spearman, runs for Nathan Astle and a pair of quick wickets for Shayne O'Connor in the early evening added up to a handy day's work for New Zealand as they started their final pre-Test warm-up against North West at the North West Stadium on Saturday.

With bad light twice interrupting play during the afternoon, it was a disjointed day, but it has to be said that North West were a good deal more disjointed than the tourists who declared at 280 for six and then grabbed two wickets with the home side still to get the scoreboard going.

Spearman's 100 followed the 173 not out made by Mark Richardson in Paarl and leaves New Zealand in the happy position of having both openers in the runs ahead of the Test. It wasn't the most challenging attack, perhaps, and Spearman was occasionally bogged down - he was stuck on 88 for 27 deliveries - but the century was runs under his belt and there's nothing quite like three figures to get batsmen believing in themselves.

Astle, meanwhile, made 63 before he tried to let one from Francois van der Merwe go and had to watch in embarrassment as it crashed into middle and off. But he looked in fine nick, middling it right from the start and he may be a little more circumspect in Bloemfontein in deciding which deliveries to leave.

Astle had the Paarl game off as did Stephen Fleming, but Fleming's return to action was a shade more forgettable. He made 16 and then tried to drive one that wasn't quite there and lifted a catch to cover. Fleming has made some runs in South Africa, but not as many as he might have liked. Perhaps they're waiting for him in Bloemfontein.

There wasn't a great deal to write home about as far as North West were concerned. Van der Merwe finished with three for 76, but their chief contribution to the day was to lose two wickets without troubling the scorers.

Andrew Lawson and Arno Jacobs were both caught Fleming at first slip, bowled O'Connor and perhaps the biggest plus among a number of setbacks for New Zealand since arriving in South Africa has been the form of O'Connor.

He started to swing the ball in the fifth one-dayer at Kingsmead and bowled well at Newlands until he bowled a brainless last over at Lance Klusener. He got swing and bounce at a fair pace on Saturday evening, and if he can take all this to Bloemfontein, the New Zealand attack may have at least a few teeth.