Captain's ton fails to hold off strong India side

A century from captain Peter Fulton was a highlight for the New Zealand Emerging Players, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a comfortable seven-wicket win for the India Emerging Players side in their 50-over game at the University ground in Brisbane today.

Batting first, NZEP improved on their previous outings with a more confident performance and several solid individual knocks. Fulton batted through most of the innings to score a very good hundred, helping the side through to a respectable total of 228 for nine.

He featured in a partnership of 116 off 145 balls with 18-year old Kane Williamson, who scored 40 and secured valuable time in the middle. Reece Young and Nick Beard also played good supporting roles, both scoring 20.

A score of 250 or more had been on the cards midway through the innings, but was hindered by the loss of two wickets at a crucial time when the team was looking to accelerate the scoring rate.

In reply India started very slowly, mainly thanks to an exceptional spell of bowling from Tim Southee who took one for four from his five overs, and was very unlucky not to have picked up more wickets.

The NZEP attack was unable to capitalise on the strong start, however, and the Indian batting lineup got their side home with plenty of overs left.

The India side included several full international and IPL players including Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli, Subramaniam Badrinath, Abishek Nayar, Amit Mishra and Dhawal Kulkarni.

Short scorecard:
New Zealand Emerging Players – 228/9 in 50 overs (Fulton 122, Williamson 40, Young 20, Beard 20)
India Emerging Players – 230/3 in 42nd over

[Full Scorecard will be posted on NZC website when available]

Cricket Australia tournament website:
http://www.cricket.com.au/default.aspx?s=emergingplayers09