Latham, Williamson star with the bat for New Zealand

Tom Latham (55) and Kane Williamson (50) composed brisk half-centuries to propel New Zealand XI to a substantial total of 324 for seven declared. To cap off a good day for the visitors, Trent Boult, the left-arm swing bowler, dislodged Gokul Bista to leave Mumbai XI at 29 for 1 at stumps in their three-day warm-up game played at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi on Friday (September 16).

With a green tinge to the Kotla wicket, Mumbai won the toss and elected to bowl. Balwinder Sandhu, the swing bowler, accounted for Martin Guptill's wicket by inducing an edge, with Aditya Tare safely pouching the catch behind the stumps. Williamson and Latham then teamed up to string together a stand of 85 for the second wicket.

Latham played with an air calmness, while Williamson occasionally stepped out of the crease to negate the threat of spinners. Sandhu, arguably the best bowler on show for Mumbai, put the brakes on the scoring rate by snaring Williamson's scalp. Latham notched up a well-measured fifty before retiring out to give rest of the batsmen a chance to spend valuable time in the middle.

Ross Taylor (41), a veteran of 73 Tests, gauged the pace of the wicket quickly to play a handy innings. The likes of BJ Watling, Mitchell Santner and Mark Craig also got much needed practice before the first Test against India in Kanpur.

On the other hand, Mumbai's spinners put up a disappointing show. Vijay Gohil, Parikshit Valsangkar and Vishal Dabholkar struggled to stem the run-flow. Dabholkar, in particular, was expected to put up a creditable performance as he has played 24 first-class games and picked up 83 wickets at an average of 30.91.

After aggregating a sizeable total of 324 for 7, New Zealand declared their innings. Boult struck straightaway for the tourists by tempting Bista to eke out an edge to Watling in the first over.

Armaan Jaffer (24 not out), however, glued the top-order with a volley of boundaries. The pair of Jaffer with Kaustubh Pawar then steered Mumbai to stumps without any further damage.

New Zealand's pacers will look to make further inroads into the batting line-up, and attune themselves well to the rhythm of Test match bowling before the Nagpur Test. The spin trio of Craig, Ish Sodhi and Santner, too, will try to make an impression.

Brief Scores: New Zealand XI 324/7 decl. (Tom Latham 55, Kane Williamson 50; Balwinder Sandhu 2-21) lead Mumbai XI 29/1 (Armaan Jaffer 24*; Trent Bould 1-5) by 295 runs runs.