New Zealand Humbled By Warriors In Trophy Warm-Up

Cheverolet Warriors 239-8 (D Jacobs 54, Butler 4-53) beat
New Zealand 237 (Guptill 78, Theron 5-42) by two wickets
ICC Champions Trophy warm-up, Pretoria

A New Zealand side minus three of its major stars was defeated by South African domestic franchise the Chevrolet Warriors as they got their preparations for the ICC Champions Trophy off to the worst possible start at the LC de Villiers Oval in Pretoria.

Batting first, a New Zealand side lacking the firepower of Jesse Ryder, Daniel Vettori and Shane Bond, was bowled out for 237 and despite not having a single established international player in their ranks, the Warriors reached 239 for eight with seven balls to spare.

Daniel Vettori had spoken before the game of the need for his batsmen to step up and although three of them did, they were still left short of a defendable total, particularly once Brendon Diamanti was unable to complete more than 2.3 overs.

Martin Guptill, opening the innings with Brendon McCullum, made 78 in 97 balls, Ross Taylor made 51 in 70 deliveries and Grant Elliott scored 47 in 48 balls but they were the only men to shine with the bat as the innings fell away with Juan Theron picking up five for 42 and Lyall Meyer two for 15.

Chasing 238 to win, the Warriors lost early wickets as Daryl Tuffey broke through to dismiss the top three men but unlike New Zealand, their lower middle-order kept them in the game.

54 from Davey Jacobs and 37 from JP Kreusch gave them hope before Theron, unbeaten on 21 in 19 balls, and Darryl Brown, who made eight not out, finished the match in the penultimate over.

Diamanti's problem meant that Elliott, Neil Broom and Guptill had to fill in, piling the pressure on the regular bowlers, for whom Ian Butler impressed by taking four for 53.

New Zealand play India in their final warm-up match on Sunday (20th September) and open their Champions Trophy campaign when they play South Africa on 24th September.