KEY POINTS:
It was difficult to decide whether Auckland coach Mark O'Donnell was more frustrated at being caught in Auckland's massive traffic jam yesterday or with the wet winter which will again have his representative players forced to artificial pitches for at least the first three weeks of the new
club season.
He would also have preferred to have the season start with normal one-day matches rather than six rounds (including the final series) of Twenty20 games which start today and will be played over three weeks.
But, as he admits, at least, weather permitting, there will at least be some cricket after another winter at the indoor school.
For a fortunate few, there is already some cricket on grass with an Auckland combined development squad in Australia for about 10 days where they are playing a handful of one-day matches. Included in that team are contracted players Andrew de Boorder, Andy McKay and Colin de Grandhomme (all Howick Pakuranga) and extended squad members Tarun Nethula (Cornwall) and Colin Munro (Howick Pakuranga).
More important, given Auckland's early start in the State Championship (four-day) with a November 10-13 match against Canterbury in Rangiora, are two scheduled two-day matches against Northern Districts on November 3-4 and 5-6 at Whangarei's impressive Cobham Oval.
"We will name the team to play Canterbury after those two matches," said O'Donnell, who is not sure who will be his fellow selectors this season. "It is likely Rex Smith will step down now that he is back as chairman of Auckland Cricket."
While he might be missing from the representative scene, Smith will be, as he has for many seasons, again taking the coaching reins at Cornwall.
Pipped at the death by Papatoetoe for the two-day championship (the Hedley Howarth Trophy) last season, Smith has a couple of new faces as he bids to regain the title which has, more often than not in recent years, been captured by Cornwall.
Auckland Aces squad member Ronnie Hira is now at the club, as is former Grafton and Auckland allrounder Craig Pryor. They also have an overseas professional in former Kenyan captain Ragheb Aga.
Other overseas professionals linking with local clubs include Zahir Ibrahim (Grafton), Tom Smith (North Shore) and sometime Indian international Sridharan Sriram (East Coast Bays).
After many years of being the backbone - with bat and ball - at Bays, former Zimbabwean test player Paul Strang has quit to take up a high-performance role with New Zealand, and probably Auckland, Cricket.
Howick Pakuranga's Mitchell McClenaghan has taken a contract with Central Districts and Ash Turner (Cornwall) has returned to Wellington.
The 12 premier teams have been split into two sections (white and blue) for the three Auckland competitions in which Howick Pakuranga (Twenty20), Cornwall (one-day) and Papatoetoe (two-day) will defend their titles.
Key Dates
*October 4: Men/women premier Twenty20 1st rounds.
*October 11: Women's Prichard Cup 1st round.
*October 18: Men's Twenty20 last round/final.
*October 25: Jeff Crowe Cup (premier one-day championship) 1st round.
*November 15: Hedley Howarth Trophy (premier 2-day championship) 1st round.
*December 26: NZ v West Indies Twenty20, Eden Park.
*January 10: NZ v West Indies, ODI Eden Park.
*January 11: Prichard Cup final.
*January 31: Women's Pearl Dawson Trophy 1st round.
*February 22: Jeff Crowe Cup final.
*February 28: Women's premier Twenty20 Final.
*March 14: NZ v India, ODI Eden Park.
*March 28: Pearl Dawson Trophy Final.