Centuries for Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson lifted New Zealand off the ropes and into a position of command on the opening day of the first Test against India.
Captain McCullum posted his eighth Test hundred soon after tea yesterday and Williamson followed two overs later with his fifth as New Zealand progressed to 329-4 at stumps.
Williamson was eventually removed for 113 and at stumps McCullum was unbeaten on 143, with Corey Anderson on 42, in a 78-run stand for the fifth wicket.
Photo: Reuters
McCullum and Williamson came together when New Zealand were in trouble at 30-3 after being sent in to bat on a bowler-friendly Eden Park wicket.
The heavy cloud cover and green-topped wicket were ripe for the Indian bowlers, who made the most of the favorable conditions and runs proved difficult to obtain as New Zealand’s batsmen struggled to reach 54-3 by lunch.
However, when the sun broke through after the break and the track flattened out into a good batting strip, McCullum and Williamson stole the initiative away from India in a 221-run stand for the fourth wicket.
They batted with confidence as Williamson notched his 50 with a top-edge for six and McCullum cleared the rope for his hundred when he belted Ravindra Jadeja over the long-off boundary.
McCullum’s innings so far contains 18 fours and two sixes, while the more textbook approach of Williamson produced 10 fours and two sixes.
Both batsmen also took risks and offered chances. Murali Vijay at first slip dropped a sitter from Williamson on 32 and Shikhar Dhawan put down McCullum on 102.
Early in the day Dhawan dropped Peter Fulton on one, although the damage was not as severe as with the McCullum miss, as the New Zealand opener only made 13 before he was rapped on the pads by Zaheer Khan.
That was when the Indian pacemen were dominating as they found plenty of movement to trouble the batsmen.
Ishant Sharma was the first to strike when he teased Hamish Rutherford (six) with deliveries that angled away, until the left-hander slashed and caught an edge, which was well taken by Ajinkya Rahane in the gully.
Sharma also claimed Ross Taylor, who had provided the backbone of the New Zealand batting in recent months, but looked uncomfortable against the India quicks.
Taylor made three off 15 deliveries before driving Sharma to Jadeja at mid-off for an early return to the pavilion.
Sharma earned the most respect among the Indian bowlers and finished the day with two for 62, while Zaheer Khan proved expensive with two for 98.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set