Cricket: Huge win for New Zealand A

Colin de Grandhomme. Photo / Getty Images

The New Zealand A cricket team's tour of England is off to a good start with a big win over Northamptonshire in a 50-over game on Friday.

New Zealand A won the toss and elected to bat at the County Ground in Northampton.

The Kiwis got off to an unremarkable start, with opener Hamish Rutherford out LBW for 9, and fellow test batsman Tom Latham, batting at first drop, out for a three-ball duck.

The middle-order pair of Colin Munro and Colin de Grandhomme then set out destroying the Northants bowlers in a ruthless display of limited-overs batting.

Both posted scores of 151, de Grandhomme's coming off only 81 balls. The pair put on 199 runs from just 19.4 overs.

Anton Devcich (45) and BJ Watling (44) also chipped in as New Zealand posted a mammoth 424/7 off their 50 overs.

The Northants bowlers had a torrid time of it. Gemmal Hussain picked up three wickets, but his ten overs went for 101 runs in the process.

Northamptonshire's chase was rain affected, reducing the target to 255 from 31 overs under the Duckworth-Lewis method.

But with such a large score to chase, it was never really a contest, Northamptonshire's innings finishing at 184/2.

New Zealand A's next game is against Sri Lanka A in Cardiff on Sunday.