New Zealand A opened their Buchi Babu tournament campaign by scoring 277/9 in their match with the Mumbai Cricket Association XI yesterday.

Leading the way for the side was Matthew Horne, with 111, returning from a broken hand suffered in Zimbabwe last year. While he played the one-off Boxing Day Test against Zimbabwe in Wellington, his return to further international cricket was then delayed by illness when a viral infection left him listless in the latter stages of the Otago Shell Trophy campaign last summer.

With Mark Richardson and Matthew Bell being paired in the Pakistan series and achieving a long sought consistency in the opening position, the pressure was always going to be on Horne who was the most experienced batsman of the trio.

But he responded perfectly in the Indian pre-season tournament with an innings which included 20 boundaries.

He shared a stand of 144 for the second wicket with Bell (47), scored in 47.4 overs.

Hamish Marshall scored 33 in what was a disappointing effort by the remaining batsmen in the side.

New Zealand's runs came off 101 overs.

© CricInfo