10th Match: Wellington v Auckland at Wellington, 8 Jan 2002 CricInfo Live Report

10th Match: Wellington v Auckland at Wellington, 8 Jan 2002
Steve McMorran

Wellington innings: 1st Drinks, 2nd Drinks, End of innings,
Auckland innings: 1st Drinks, Wrap,
Pre-game: Scene set,

WELLINGTON BEAT AUCKLAND BY NINTEEN RUNS IN THRILLING FINISH

Wellington beat Auckland by 19 runs with nine balls remaining in a thrilling and high scoring State Shield match which ended in encroaching twilight at the Basin Reserve today.

Auckland made a savage and courageous attempt to overtake Wellington's total of 300-5 - formed around Chris Nevin's 111 - but were all out for 281 in the 49th over.

Matt Horne and Llorne Howell led the Auckland assault against what had seemed an impenetrable objective and, in some of the most dashing batting of the season and in a partnership of 155 for the first wicket - made improbable seem attainable.

But Wellington put up a determined defence of a total which had begun to shrink in the light of the opener's charge, limited Auckland through the middle stages of their innings and finally wrapped up the tail as Auckland's overs dwindled.

They were helped in their attempt to do so by another stalwart bowling performance from Paul Hitchcock, who took 4-45 from nine overs, and by Mayu Pasupati whose nine overs cost 71 runs

Chris Nevin instigated the run-fest when he blazed his second limited overs century from 114 balls as Wellington batted on winning the toss. In a crucial opening partnership of 53 with Matthew Bell, which saw off the new ball, and later, in adding 121 with Richard Jones for the second wicket, Nevin set up Wellington for the most substantial total of the season.

He was only their third batsman out, in the 28th over when they were 203, but he gave Wellington the twin advantages of runs on the board and wickets in hand. When Matthew Walker, who also bowled at the death, added 61 runs from only 36 balls in a violent conclusion to Wellington's innings, the target for Auckland became more than imposing.

But Horne and Howell at first reduced the apparent magnitude of Auckland's run-chase, then even dwarfed their target when they battered twin half centuries before the innings' first drinks break.

The scored at a breakneck pace - at more than eight at over through the early overs - and then at a steady seven to reduce what had been an overwhelming asking rate to a mere five per over - the chaff of one-day cricket.

Horne sprinted to 76 from 70 balls and was finally out when Auckland were 155 - 11 runs short of the first wicket best for the association. Horne followed, as partners in a long alliance often do, 30 runs later.

There were then steady wicketfalls through the middle of the Auckland innings as they attempted to maintain the giddy momentum Howell and Horne had given them. Wickets fell at 198, 218, 219, 237, 254 and 258 and gradually the balance of match tipped back to favour Wellington.

Auckland found themselves needing 39 runs off five overs with only two wickets remaining, then 31 from four and 25 from three. Their resistance falted when Brooke Walker was brilliantly caught and bowled by Paul Hitchcok in the 48th over and the innings ended when Mark Haslam was run out one over later.

Nevin was saluted by his Wellington teammates as the architect of their fourth consecutive Shield win. His innings was the epitome of sound one-day play, full of sweetly-struck pulls and cuts but more notable for the ones and twos which kept the run rate mobile.

HORNE AND HOWELL LEAD DARING AUCKLAND CHARGE

Auckland openers Matt Horne and Llorne Howell achieved complementary half centuries and helped their team make a daring attack on Wellington's imposing total of 300-5 in the State Shield match at the Basin Reserve today.

Horne, batting superbly, reached 61 by drinks in the 16th over, taking his runs from only 40 balls, with 10 fours and at a scoring rate of 152.

Howell, who was necessarily more circumspect but who helped keep up the flow of runs, was 58 when drinks were taken. His runs had come from an equal number of fours, 58, with nine fours and at a scoring rate of 100.

The Aucklanders, who faced the needed to score at more than six runs per over from the outset of their innings were well ahead of that rate - scoring at more than seven runs per over - by drinks. They had reduced the run rate required to 5.17.

There's was not a slogging fest and no boundary feast. They certainly punished the loose ball but they were simply able to keep the runs coming by regularly rotating the strike, steering the all into gaps in the field.

WELLINGTON POSTS MONSTROUS TOTAL AT THE BASIN

If Chris Nevin were the kind to dwell on disappointments - and you could find no more sanguine figure among cricketers anywhere in the world - he would have felt the sting of his rejection by the national selectors when they named their team for the Tri-Nations series in Australia.

Spoken to a day after the announcement of that team and having had time to sleep on his omission, Nevin said he was disappointed to have been overlooked - largely for reasons beyond his control - but he would put the setback behind him and get on with his game.

He had been a little bit limited, he said, by a lack of opportunities. When the team was named he had played only one one-day match for Wellington this season - many of his other opportunities had been lost to the weather - and his sound 85 against Otago had not been enough to convince the selectors of his readiness for international play.

Today at the Basin Reserve Nevin, who remains perpetually smiling no matter how the winds of sporting fortune toss him and who has earned the greatest of all accolades - that he is "a good tourist" - made an impish reply to the selectors' disinterest.

He made for 111 for Wellington against Auckland, an innings composed of only 114 balls and 12 fours, as Wellington reached a monstrous 297-5 from 50 overs, batting first on a genial wicket.

Nevin carried his bat through 38.5 overs of the Wellington innings and was out when they were 203 and scoring at a rate well in excess of five runs per over. He had shared partnerships of 53 with his captain Matthew Bell, 126 with Richard Jones and 24 with Englishman before Mark Haslam snared his wicket.

Nevin scored many of his runs through pulls through midwicket, at other times rose on his toes to meet a full delivery and clipped it through the same area or over the inning ring of fieldsmen and to the Basin's broad boundaries.

He laid back at other times and play his sweet yet emphatic cut shot behind point and ahead of gully - a shot played closer to his body than many other batsmen can achieve without peril.

Nevin was rarely in trouble in his innings and rarely impeded in his scoring. He raced between 90 and 100 with six singles and a four which took him from 94 to 98, during the innings' most productive partnership with Jones.

Bell played a studied innings while Nevin flayed the bowling and the pair gave Wellington a generous platform. Bell was out, lbw to Tama Canning when he was 16 and Wellington was 53 and after he had laboured through almost an hour for his runs.

Jones batted with freedom but was willing as Bell had been to concede the strike to Nevin who had the pace of the wicket, the range of the boundary and the measure of the bowlers. By his high standards, Jones' 47 from 70 balls was not a rapid innings, yet the Wellington scoring rate climbed rapidly when he and Nevin were together.

Sales, who has yet to be seen at his brilliant best, served a vital purpose when he stayed with Nevin till the opener when 200 h ad been breached.

Wellington then had the twin objectives of any one-day side - runs on the board and wickets in hand. the man to exploit those advantages, more than Sales, was Matthew Walker - a more than handy all-rounder -who smashed an unbeaten 54 from 34 balls with six fours and a six to leave Auckland a vexing target.

NEVIN MAKES STATEMENT WITH QUICKFIRE CENTURY

Discarded international Chris Nevin made a sharp statement to New Zealand's cricket selectors when he romped to a century from 105 balls, leading an extravagant batting peformance, in Wellington's State Shield match against Auckland at the Basin Reserve today.

Nevin, who has been overlooked for New Zealand's tri-nations series in Australia by the selectors, who favoured Adam Parore, reached his second hundred in one-day matches as Wellington reached 174-1 approaching the day's second drinks break.

His century included 11 fours, scored mainly through or over midwicket or, more delicately, between point and cover.

He put on 53 with his captain Matthew Bell for Wellington's first wicket and had added 121 with Richard Jones for the second wicket when his milestone arose.

Nevin had a strike rate of 95.24 and posted his century in the 35th over. Jones had reached 43 from 65 balls.

Nevin made steady progress through the 90s, going from 90 to 94 with singles, then taking a boundary thorugh midwicket, and adding two more singles to reach his mark.

Wellington had won the toss and batted first on a wicket, kind to batsmen, which favoured strokeplay off the backfoot, though both Nevin and Jones were able to play forcing shots wide of the wicket when the ball was full.

WELLINGTON BUILD SOLID PLATFORM

Openers Matthew Bell and Chris Nevin gave Wellington another sound platform for their innings when they put on 53 for the first wicket before the early drinks break in their State Shield match against Auckland at the Basin Reserve.

By drinks, which were taken after 17 overs, Wellington were 79-1 and Bell had departed, trapped lbw for Tama Canning for 16, a painstaking innings of 38 balls. Nevin had gone on to 45 and Richard Jones, looking for his first big innings of the Shield season was 4.

Wellington were scoring at more than 4.6 per over and seemed to have justified their decision to bat on winning the toss and on a newly-prepared pitch - though one that has been used this season - in the centre of the wicketblock.

Nevin progressed their scoring, most notably with a series of powerful cuts and pulls. He too, is in need of a big innings to complement his 85 in Wellington's opening match against Otago.

The pitch is a reasonably good one for batting though its restricted pace demands application and inhibits fluent scoring from the front foot.

WELLINGTON WIN TOSS AND BAT FIRST

Wellington coach Vaughn Johnson has urged his team to approach with caution their State Shield match against Auckland at the Basin Reserve today, fearing their form in two matches at the weekend might have been too good for their own good.

Wellington's comprehensive wins over Central Districts - by 110 runs on Saturday - and Northern Districts - by 79 runs on Sunday - have lifted them to a comfortable lead on the Sheild table and have Johnson's team a hugely inflated sense of confidence.

Captain Matthew Bell has already begun to talk about his team setting the goal of passing through the whole of the one-day competition - 11 games - unbeaten. That seems an enormous challenge to place in front of his team after only three matches and regardless of their three wins.

Johnson's caution is understandable. He was able to refocus the Wellington team after they had dismissed Central for a record low score of 58, containing their natural buoyance, and he has urged them to regroup again after their commanding performance against Northern, when they had them 58-9 before bowling them out for 127.

Johnson can take heart from the fact there is still a great deal Wellington can improve and from his knowledge that his players are aware of that.

Wellington's bowling has not been as good as the meek performances of their weekend opponents would suggest but they have at least, at Johnson's urging, been able to contain the number of extras they have conceded. They have also grounded a number of catches in their two most recent matches and their fielding has a way to go to reach the calibre Johnson requires.

It is in the batting area that Wellington have the potential for most improvement. They scored 168 against Central Districts, losing their last wicket in the 50th over, and 206-9 in 42 overs against Northern Districts.

But the innings against Central was a collection of small performances, damaged by three run outs, and the innings against Northern was largely held together by Bell's 65. Several Wellington players - among them Chris Nevin and Richard Jones - are yet to find any significant form.

Wellington will be harmed in this match by the loss of James Franklin, who has been called as Kyle Mills' replacement into the New Zealand team in Brisbane. Franklin hit his bowling straps at the weekend and departs the leading wicket-taker in the Shield competition.

Auckland are weakened by the loss to international play of Mark Richardson, Andre Adams, Dion Nash and Adam Parore and by Mills' injury but Wellington realise they would be unwise to take lightly Auckland's contingent of replacements.

Wellington has turned on a sparkling, clear day for this, the third of Wellington matches in four days. Both of the weekend matches were partly rain-affected.

For the first time this season there is no rain, nor even the hint of rain hovering over the Basin Reserve as play begins. The greenness of the embankment and outfield is a reminder of the amount of rain that has fallen in Wellington this summer but the clear and light blue sky, the slight breeze and the warm temperature is a reminder of what summer should be.

Wellington won the toss and elected to bat on a pitch adjacent to that which was used for both Saturday and Sunday's matches.