McCullum, Williamson excite in red-ball hit-out

It wasn’t only the flat, unyielding Manuka Oval pitch that lent a weary air to the final half of New Zealand’s tour match against a Cricket Australia XI comprised largely of Test hopefuls.

Given a two-day fixture is cricket’s equivalent to playing 12 holes of golf – more than a practice swing but well short of a meaningful match – it was always going to be tough for the rival teams to maintain a sense of purpose other than auditioning for next month’s Test series opener in Brisbane.

The nature of the pitch that had also been used for the Black Caps day-nighter against a Prime Minister’s XI on Friday meant that only batsmen were going to walk away from this red-ball hit-out with a warm, fuzzy feel.

And by the time NZ’s batsmen took to the middle under cloudless skies and in front of 100 or so spectators to notionally pursue the CA XI’s 90-over first day total of 4-325 this morning, the game was revealed to be little more than centre wicket batting practice.

It ended half an hour earlier than scheduled with NZ 8-368.

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The Black Caps batsmen could be excused for any sluggishness, having endured a tight turnaround from the evening PM’s game finish and the morning start on Saturday and then gathering en masse in their hotel around 3am today to watch the All Blacks storm into rugby’s World Cup final.

Certainly Martin Guptill, rarely troubled in making 94 from 108 balls against the PM’s bowlers, gave that indication when he shouldered arms to the ninth ball he received this morning only to lose his off bail.

Watch: Stanlake bowls Guptill

That wicket left the tourists 1-0 and briefly added a spring to the heavy step of the CA team, many of whom were eyeing a return home after several weeks based in Sydney for the Matador BBQs One-Day Cup and then some extra days in the capital.

If any bowler was going to extract something from the flint hard Manuka surface it was going to be uncapped Queensland quick Billy Stanlake who was banging it into the deck from atop his lean 204cm frame.

But having dislodged Guptill, Stanlake, left-armer Jason Behrendorff and Test veteran Peter Siddle were reduced to fodder in much the same way the Black Caps seamers had been a day earlier as a procession of batsmen came and invariably only went after they’d had enough.

By the time NZ skipper Brendon McCullum (58 from 48 balls) and Test ‘keeper B J Watling opted to stay put in the dressing rooms after the tea break, just four wickets had fallen to bowlers across five completed sessions to two international-standard bowling attacks.

Watch: McCullum scores speedy half-century

By days end when the captains agreed to up stumps at 5pm, a total of eight batters had remained unconquered with their innings terminated by either voluntary withdrawal or team declaration.

And no bowler had more than a single wicket to their name, with opening batsman Cameron Bancroft left to rue a turfed return catch that robbed him of a rare wicket with his modest medium pacers.

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NZ batting coach Craig McMillan was as diplomatic as his Canberra surrounds when asked to assess the three days of practice in the nation’s capital, and if the tourists might have preferred a pitch that will more closely replicate what awaits them at the ‘Gabba on November 5.

"I think both sides would have, to be honest," McMillan said.

"It’s been tough work for the bowlers, hasn’t been any turn for the spinners and at times even though both sides put more than 300 on the board scoring has been difficult.

"It is what it is, I guess the good thing is it’s allowed guys to get in and spend some time in the middle and you have to say the guys from both sides have made the most of it.

"We spent a day in the field yesterday, the bowlers got some overs under the belt and today from a batting point of view there’s nothing better than spending time in the middle.

"It beats batting in the nets.

"It’s probably fair to say that the conditions are not really what we’re going to face when we go to Brisbane but there was certainly some value in the stuff we’ve done today."

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After Australia’s Test hopefuls Joe Burns (102) and Usman Khawaja (111) made hay yesterday, the Black Caps rotated their players at an even faster rate with their batting mainstay Kane Williamson – rested from the PM’s XI fixture – top scoring with 68 retired.

The 25-year-old looked in ominously sweet touch during his stay of just under two hours in which he caressed 13 boundaries and thwarted every plan that CA XI skipper Khawaja was able to conjure.

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There was perhaps no more poignant example than when Khawaja employed two short mid-ons with Mitchell Marsh bowling a full middle-and-leg line, only for Williamson to audaciously steer the ball between the non-plussed pair and to the boundary rope.

McCullum was the other Black Caps batsman who quickly found his feet, true to his nature taking to spinners Ashton Agar and Canberra Year 11 student (and Australia under-19 left-armer) Ben Taylor in a breezy 97-minute stay.

He reached a half century in his first hit-out of the tour with a double-handed forehand swat from a Mitch Marsh bouncer that sailed beyond the fence at deep backward square leg.

As was the case in Friday’s pink ball match, the tourists only cause for regret was likely the comparative failure of former skipper Ross Taylor who followed up his second-ball duck against the PM’s XI with 16 from 36 balls today.

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One of the most consistent Test match performers for NZ in recent years, Taylor’s innings was as much lacking in fluency as it was assurance.

The tourists will therefore be hoping he can settle in for a lengthy stint in their final pre-Test hit-out, a four-day match against another CA XI at Sydney’s Blacktown Oval starting on Thursday.

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Reserve opener Hamish Rutherford (41 in more than two hours) was the other specialist batsman who did not appear overly comfortable in the batter-friendly conditions.

But given Guptill’s Test opening partner Tom Latham scored a century on Friday it’s safe to assume Rutherford will only be required in the case of injury or drastic form loss.

Siddle certainly did his selection prospects no ill with figures of 0-34 from 13 overs on the vulcanised strip, but after being overlooked for Victoria’s Matador Cup campaign and asked to bowl first-change behind Stanlake and Behrendorff today, he will be desperate to return to Melbourne tomorrow.

Where an early season MCG pitch, a new pink ball and day-night playing conditions await as the Australians finalise their first Test preparations in unconventional circumstances.