Battle for batsmen against tight CD bowling

Tight Central Districts bowling in cold but fine conditions at Bert Sutcliffe Oval yesterday made life difficult for the New Zealand Academy Selection batsmen on the first day of their second two-day game at Lincoln University.

A chilly southerly breeze made temperatures unpleasant and few of the Academy Selection batsmen were able to get on top of the bowling. Batting down the order this time, Jesse Ryder top-scored with 51 in two hours of harder work than he is used to while Mark Orchard, who opened the innings with Mark Richardson battled for nearly three hours for his 38.

The feature of the Academy Selection scoring was the consistency of players who made a start without any of them really going on to a big score. Ewen Thompson was the pick of the CD bowlers, ending the day with 5 for 48 from his 20 overs of effort, including an athletic caught and bowled to end Richardson's innings.

Brief scoreboard:

NZCA 264-9 (J Ryder 51, M Orchard 38, S Allen 32, J Hill 31, N Broom 28, R Taylor 28, E Thompson 5-48, J How 2-44) met Central Districts.