It was an agonising day for the bowlers, spin and pace alike, at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai on Monday. While MRF toiled hard, after having lost the toss and being put out on the field, the New Zealand A batsmen took their time milking the bowling. At the end of the day, the visiting team's skipper Matthew Bell could be nothing but pleased, both for his 111 and for the side's 303/4 off 101 overs.

Having won a close first round encounter against Mumbai Cricket Association, New Zealand A took no chances. On a wicket that can best be described as a featherbed, the spinners toiled ceaselessly with little reward. A look at the bowling analysis tells the tale - left arm spinner Babloo Kumar 0/65 from 22 overs, Ashish Kapoor 0/68 from 27 overs, Tanseer Jabbar 0/43 from 22 overs.

Having said all this, it would be unfair to the extreme to take anything away from the Kiwi batsmen. Having played out the best part of the day with extreme care, pushing, nudging and stroking the ball into the gaps for ones and twos, the New Zealand batsmen really cashed in, just after tea, when the wicket was at its best and the bowling tired.

Earlier in the day, Mark Richardson (0) and Mathew Horne (4) missed out on a good chance to get some good scores as New Zealand A slumped to 20/2. From there on however, the pair of Bell and Lou Vincent shut the door on the MRF bowlers. Adding 156 runs for the third wicket, the pair blunted the bowling. Playing the sweep with aplomb, both Bell and Vincent were positive without being aggressive. Bell in particular was keen to play a long innings and outlasted Vincent (85 runs, 165 balls, 11 fours). The departure of Vincent saw young Hamish Marshall have a go at the batting. Easily the most comfortable batsman at the crease, Marshall took the attack to the spinners, striking 11 boundaries and two sixes, one that clattered into the sight screen, on the way to making an unbeaten 84 (123 balls).

It took a long while, 377 minutes in all at the wicket, before Bell was dismissed on 111. Coming off nearly 300 balls, Bell's knock included 11 hits to the fence. At the end of the day, Marshall had Jacob Oram (1 not out) for company.

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