Aaron Finch and Ryan Carters break opening stand record in abandoned tour match

New Zealand's tour match against a Cricket Australia XI ended in farcical scenes after a record-breaking opening partnership in Sydney.

Aaron Finch (288 not out) and Ryan Carters (209) put on 503 for the first wicket to set a new Australian record but the match was abandoned just after Carters was dismissed, with New Zealand apparently refusing to bat because of the dangerous state of the wicket at the Blacktown International Sports Park.

The stand easily eclipsed the previous Australian record of 456 set by openers Ernie Mayne and Bill Ponsford for Victoria state in 1923-24.

Finch and Carters had been at the crease for 121.1 overs when reserve wicket-keeper Tom Latham became the first New Zealand bowler to celebrate a wicket, Carters edging to BJ Watling behind the stumps.

The wicket brought an early lunch, but New Zealand's batsmen failed to show after the break and Cricket Australia said the official reason was an 'unfit pitch', with the scorecard showing New Zealand declaring both innings.

Coach Mike Hesson said: "When they declared we didn't want to put ourselves in a position to bat on that surface and both teams agreed it was unsafe for first class cricket.

"We saw with the new ball that a couple took off and also took a fairly big chunk of the surface with it.

"I'd describe it as a jigsaw with about half the pieces missing. They're unable to grow any grass here this time of year so it was basically like rolled mud with a little topping. As it dried it baked and bits started falling out of it."

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Hesson hopes it will not be too big a hurdle for his side to overcome ahead of the first Test.

"You don't turn up to any country expecting any favours and it's no different here," he added. "We batted a day in Canberra and got 370-2 on a pretty benign surface and that served some value.

"We'll be right. We'll hopefully train on some good facilities in Sydney then get to Brisbane where the nets will be similar to the surface and we'll prepare as best as we can."

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