Taylor, Latham steer Kiwi to win in warm-up match

MUMBAI: New Zealand batsmen hit two centuries to propel their team to victory, defeating the Indian Board President’s XI by 33 runs here on Thursday in the second and final warm-up match.

Kiwi middle order batsmen Ross Taylor and Tom Latham struck centuries to steer their team to a mammoth 343 runs for 9 in 50 overs against the President’s XI, who were bowled out for 310 in 47.1 overs.

The visitors went down in the opening warm-up game against the hosts on Tuesday ahead of their first One-day International on Sunday.Right-hand batsman Taylor (102), and his left-hand partner Latham (108), put together 166 runs for the fourth wicket before both retired from the game on a flat Brabourne Stadium pitch.

Latham signed off with a massive six to reach his ton.The visitors finished their innings with a brisk knock of 29 runs in 18 balls by all-rounder Mitchell Santner.

President’s XI left-arm medium pacer Jaydev Unadkat grabbed four wickets for 57 runs in 10 overs. Later his batting blitz of 44 runs off 24 balls almost took away the match from the Kiwis.

Unadkat hit five fours and three sixes but was caught by Glenn Phillips off Matt Henry.Openers Prithvi Shaw and Karun Nair gave the hosts a brisk start before Shaw was bowled by Santner for 22. Nair scored 53 off 54 balls, hitting seven fours before he was caught and bowled by Colin Munro.Batsman Gurkeerat Singh remained the top scorer for President’s XI with 65 runs off 46.