Ishant Sharma took four wickets but a late charge by James Franklin, who took 16 runs off RP Singh’s last over, helped New Zealand post a competitive total of 170 in India’s first warm-up match at Lord’s in the run-up to their title defence at the World T20 Championships here on Monday.

In fact, the last two overs — bowled by RP Singh and Irfan Pathan — went for 31 runs, as New Zealand went past the 150-barrier. Earlier, New Zealand opener Brendon McCullum (31) and Ross Taylor (41) set the platform for the Kiwis to post a big total. But Ishant kept chipping away with the wickets to halt their charge.

Brief scores: New Zealand 170 for 7 (R Taylor 41, B McCullum 31; I Sharma 4/25, Harbhajan Singh 1/22) vs India

Watson stars in Oz win

Nottingham: Shane Watson’s rapid fifty and three wickets from Mitchell Johnson helped Australia manage a 38-run win against Bangladesh in a World T20 warm-up match here.

Batting first, Ricky Ponting’s men piled up 219 for six. Watson led with 52 off 23 balls and, with wicketkeeper Brad Haddin (47), put on 100 for the first wicket. Off-spinner Mohammad Mahmudullah took four for 37.

In response, Tamim Iqbal gave Bangladesh a blazing start, taking 18 off Nathan Bracken’s first over and Shakib Al Hasan kept up the tempo with a quickfire 54 and gave a scare to the Aussies but their dismissals restored normalcy and Bangladesh finished with 38-runs adrift of the target.

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