Vincent and Bond emerge as heroes for NZ A
[Lynn McConnell] | [Original Article]

New Zealand A were looking for heroes to get themselves out of a fix in their Buchi Babu tournament match against Indian Railways and Lou Vincent and Shane Bond answered the call.

As a result of dismissing the home team for 145, New Zealand A achieved a 23-run victory and will now contest the final of the Indian pre-season tournament against the Cricket Association of Bengal XI, starting tomorrow evening (NZ time).

After being dismissed for a paltry 129 on the first day, the result of some individual batting problems more than anything else, according to coach Ashley Ross, the side conceded more runs than they wanted when the Railways XI made 279.

With a deficit of 150 runs, New Zealand A were 216/6 at stumps on the second day.

"Once we had lost the first innings advantage we knew we couldn't make the final unless we got the outright victory," Ross said.

"We planned out where we wanted to be and it was a case of checking the signposts as we went along, but we were not quite where we wanted to be at stumps on the second night," he said.

The side had failed to realise the fine line between achieving a suitable scoring rate and keeping wickets intact.

The aim on the final morning was to get a lead of around 180 and Vincent and Kyle Mills did an outstanding job while giving the bowlers enough runs and time to do the job.

"We had worked out a few things with their batsmen that we wanted to expose them to with our faster bowlers," Ross said.

Mark Richardson, who had been much more impressive in his first innings of 59 not out than earlier in the tournament, was still not at his best.

But in his second innings he was a batsman transformed and much more impressive and his 71 was reward for the work he had been doing on playing spin bowling.

"He was using his feet well. He has been working hard on that part of his game with the Pakistan tour, and Shane Warne, coming up later. He and Matthew Bell worked well in adding 100 and set the run rate where we wanted it.

"They both got out and then Lou came in and started brilliantly. He played quite beautifully but we lost more wickets than we needed to on the second evening.

"However, he was absolutely spectacular in the morning and it was worth charging people to see it. Some of his shot making was breathtaking," Ross said.

Vincent was left 102 not out, off 102 balls as New Zealand A reached 318/8 before declaring. That left a target of 169 for Indian Railways to win.

"The bowling effort was quite outstanding. Shane Bond had huge penetration on the first day but the wickets were being taken at the other end. But he was intimidating people.

"Yesterday he was putting the ball past the batsmen's nose and that is not easy on Indian pitches," he said.

Ross said it was known that Bond had a big heart and the whisper had got around the first-class scene last year that he was probably as quick as any bowler around in New Zealand.

He had worked hard at the High Performance Centre during the winter and when Scott Styris was unavailable to make the tour, Bond was keen to make the trip and to bowl fast.

"He bowled an intimidating length and of the eight wickets he took in the game four or five would have been caught at short leg or in the slips-gully region from balls lobbing off the bats or fingers.

"It was a very courageous effort. He was physically unwell at lunch but demanded the ball when we went back out afterwards," he said.

The problem for the side was the emotion spent in achieving what was a tight victory.

"The big thing now is to refocus and make sure we go forward in the final. We are very excited about the way we are playing and it was a great day yesterday," Ross said.

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