Scorecard
Ball by Ball
Cricket Web XI vs New Zealand
Game 1 - CW Oval
Dinu DeSilva played the innings of his career in front of a packed house at the Cricket Web Oval, and the Cricket Web XI beat New Zealand by 3 wickets in a close encounter.
DeSilva scored 70 not out off 71 balls, and though the Webheads got home comfortably at the very end, his was an important innings in ensuring the easy finish. The 20 year-old entered at the fall of captain Brendan Goff at 109/3. He joined Chris Butler and the two played confidently for a partnership of 48.
At 157/3 after 30 overs, it seemed a simple task to overhaul New Zealand's total of 237. It was then that Bond returned to the fold. The Kiwi spearhead had earlier dismissed Liam Camps and Ian Markus in his first three overs and had Goff dropped in 12 in his third. Dangerous undoubtedly, he proceeded to knock back Butler's legstump, then produced a beauty to get Robbins caught in the gully.
Suddenly the score was a more difficult 157/5. When Chaulk was caught off a Vettori arm ball, New Zealand pushed ahead. Tom Halsey joined DeSilva and the two put on 30 for the seventh wicket. Back for an encore, Bond stirred things up again with the wicket of Halsey for 11.
Nathan Hoy was made to press on with his name as an allrounder alongside the incumbent DeSilva. To his credit, the young seamer was calm and determined and proved a perfect foil. After Bond completed his spell with 5-36, things settled down quickly, and runs were easy to milk en route to victory.
Earlier, Liam Camps tore through the New Zealand batting after a good start. A socre of 86/1 after 19 overs quickly became 110/4 and the visitors never quite recovered. Brendan McCullum and Hamish Marshall did exceptionally to elevate the score to a level of competitiveness, but Hoy partnered with Camps well to limit the revival.
New Zealand 237 all out (49.2 overs)
HJH Marshall 63, BB McCullum 47, SP Fleming 44
LA Camps 5-49, TC Halsey 2-39, NS Hoy 3-44
Cricket Web XI 238-7 (48.2 overs)
MW DeSilva 70*, CR Butler 58, BJ Goff 57
SE Bond 5-36
Cricket Web XI won by 3 wickets.
Man of the Match: MW DeSilva