Broom takes Indian bowlers to the cleaners

Ryder took a heavy toll of new-ball bowler Praveen Kumar and picked up six of the eight fours hit against the right-arm swing bowler. Scoring 57 runs from 48 balls,Ryder helped himself to 10 fours and a massive six off Ishant Sharma. He got good support from the other end as Brendon McCullum (15 off 17 balls) and Guptill (63 off 79 balls) also lay about smashing the bowling,bringing up New Zealand’s 150 in the 28th over.

India’s spin duo of leg-spinner Amit Mishra (1/29) and off-spinner Yousuf Pathan (3/46) applied the brakes in the middle overs but did not receive adequate support from the other bowlers. Broom provided a bigger thrust in the closing overs smashing five fours and four sixes. In RP Singh’s eighth over — also the penultimate over of the innings — Broom clobbered 25 runs including three sixes and a four.

Brief scores: New Zealand 301 for 8 in 50 overs (N Broom 66,M Guptill 63,J Ryder 57; Y Pathan 3/46) vs India

Jayawardene steers SL to win

In other warm-up matches,a brace of three-wicket hauls each from Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis,along with a half-century from Mahela Jayawardene,led Sri Lanka to a comfortable five-wicket victory against the West Indies in Pretoria. Dale Richards and Devon Smith scored half-centuries but,apart from Darren Sammy,no one else got to double figures.

Sri Lanka began shakily,with Tillakaratne Dilshan and Sanath Jayasuriya falling within the first ten overs,but Jayawardene (67) steadied the innings.

Elsewhere,the Warriors scored a healthy 261/6 in their alloted 50 overs against Pakistan in Benoni.