Date-stamped : 19 Dec93 - 10:50
Wellington v Canterbury at the Basin Reserve, Wellington.

Wellington went to the top of the table with a  first  in-  nings
win  over Canterbury. Wellington were in early strife but experi-
enced wicketkeeper Erv McSweeney scored a magni- ficent 111. Wel-
lington  batted positively throughout, their first innings ending
at 288.
Test reject Blair Hartland was in fine form, looking odds on  for
a century when Canterbury batted. He was however surprisingly out
for 65, but Canterbury reached 190  for the loss of three wickets
and   1st  innings  points   seemed assured.  With the Wellington
spinners so successful  in Waunganui,  it  was  surprising   that
Michael Austin didn't use them until the 55th over.
It was the spinners however who engineered a big  collapse  after
tea on the third day (the second was washed out), al- though this
time leggie Mathew Goodson only took 3 victims, despite   bowling
with  great accuracy. Man of the match Jason Wells had only taken
up bowling again last season, and his six wickets were  easily  a
career  best.  Canterbury finished 30 runs behind, with former NZ
youth captain Llorne Howell impressive against  the  spinners  in
scoring 60.
After playing positive cricket earlier, both sides contrib-  uted
to  a  dreary  final day. Partially due to some good Can- terbury
bowling Wellington were unable to push on and set up a fourth in-
nings  run  chase. Canterbury obviously felt that they could bowl
Wellington out, so they refused to feed runs in anticipation of a
declaration,  but  more  stern resi- stance from McSweeney foiled
this plan. The game finished a few part timers  getting  a  bowl,
and it was wicketkeeper and captain Lee Germon who denied McSwee-
ney his second century of the match, having him caught and bowled
for 99.  Wellington 4 points, Canterbury 0.

<END> Contributed by Jason (jmas@waikato.ac.nz)