Boyle, Foxcroft make India A toil after early wobble
Dhruv Jurel completed his ton and Akash Deep scored 68 as India A posted 346. But the bowlers failed to capitalise after New Zealand A were reduced to 13/3
New Zealand A recovered from a precarious position of 13 for 3, losing no further wickets as they ended Day 2 of the second unofficial Test against India A on 218. Matthew Boyle scored a hundred while Dean Foxcroft remained unbeaten on 80 to frustrate the India A attack, with the visitors enduring two wicketless sessions after a bright start with the ball.
India A resumed the day on 291 for 7, and captain Dhruv Jurel took three deliveries to get off his overnight score of 99 and register his eight first-class hundred. He soon nicked behind for 106, after which Akash Deep cut loose, tonking Fraser Sheat for a six over long on. Akash then dished out severe treatment in a Brett Randall over, hitting four successive boundaries to bring up his half-century. While he continued to add valuable runs, Mohammed Siraj tried swinging his bat himself but was bowled for 0, leaving Akash disappointed at the other end. Another boundary took Akash to his highest first-class score but he miscued one in the air, bringing his knock to a close on 68 and India A’s innings on 346.
Siraj and Mukesh Kumar then got the ball to talk, extracting movement in the air and off the seam. Siraj had captain Rhys Mariu in all sorts of trouble as India A began with four consecutive maidens, before the latter’s struggles ended for 4. Mukesh then struck twice in the space of three balls on the stroke of lunch to remove Curtis Heaphy and Tim Robinson, leaving New Zealand A in trouble.
But thereafter, it proved to be a fruitless toil for the Indian bowlers as Boyle and Foxcroft launched a counter-attack. At least one boundary was scored of each of the first six overs post lunch, before Jurel was blinded by Foxcroft stepping out, missing out on a stumping chance down the leg-side. The boundaries continued to flow before the scoring rate dipped, although both batters looked at ease against the spin of Washington Sundar, getting through to tea unscathed.
Boyle then hammered Siraj for a six and a four, before greeting Manav Suthar with a couple of boundaries too as he brought up his fifty. Foxcroft got to his milestone as well, with both batters putting Suthar under pressure. Boyle was beaten on a couple of occasions, but he soon raised a deserved hundred, even running four off a Siraj delivery that he flicked through mid-wicket. Both batters took their partnership beyond 200, before bad light forced a slightly premature end to the day in the extra half hour. New Zealand A are now 128 runs adrift of India A’s first-innings total.
Brief Scores: India A 346 (Dhruv Jurel 106, Devdutt Padikkal 80, Akash Deep 68; Fraser Sheat 4-63) lead New Zealand A 218/3 (Matthew Boyle 107*, Dean Foxcroft 80*; Mukesh Kumar 2-44) by 128 runs.
