Doug Bracewell fell four runs short of his maiden first-class century on a good second day for New Zealand A in their tour match against India A at Vizakhapatnam yesterday.
Resuming at 300-8, international seamer Bracewell and young spinner Ish Sodhi shared a 162-run stand for the ninth wicket topush NZ A from their overnight total to 437 all out. At stumps, India A had crawled to 94-2 off 38 overs.
Bracewell was dismissed for 96, his eighth first-class 50, off 132 balls, while 20-year-old Sodhi made 57, his fourth and highest half century in first-class cricket. If Bracewell had reached his century, it would have been the third of the innings after Corey Anderson and Anton Devcich made hundreds on the opening day.
Bracewell and fellow new ball bowler Mark Gillespie grabbed a quick wicket each to have the Indians 16-2, before Vasudevan Jagadeesh and Manprit Juneja both reached 40 by stumps.
''It's definitely disappointing falling just four short, but at the same time it was a great achievement to put on over 150 with Ish and get the team into a good position,'' Bracewell said.
''It's going to be a big ask for the bowlers so hopefully we can stick to our plans and work towards picking up eight wickets.''
Scores: NZ A 437 (A. Devcich 115, C. Anderson 100, D. Bracewell 96, I. Sodhi 57; D. Kulkarni 3-53) India A 94-2 (M. Juneja 43 not out, V. Jagadeesh 40 not out; M. Gillespie 1-11, Bracewell 1-23)
