Cricket: Outcast Mills makes his point as Auckland fight back

Auckland's unwanted Black Cap Kyle Mills took advantage of a seaming wicket to wrest the advantage from Central Districts on the first day of their four-day State Championship cricket match yesterday.

The right-arm medium pacer snared four wickets, with former Black Caps Andre Adams and Tama Canning sharing five, as they restricted the Stags to 214 in 87.5 overs at McLean Park.

Mills, who celebrated his 26th birthday on Tuesday, was instrumental in cutting the heart out of the middle order, while Adams claimed the scalps of openers Peter Ingram and Jamie How, with Ingram top-scoring with 45 as the run rate hovered around the two mark.

Auckland skipper Brooke Walker won the toss and put the Stags into bat on a difficult wicket, fermenting under the covers for most of the week.

An indication of the tricky pitch was reflected by the number of times (four) the umpires raised their fingers for LBW decisions and the batsmen's inability to pick the swinging deliveries.

Central coach Graham Barlow was content with the total and said it was always going to be a good toss to win.

"With the ball seaming around, our best opportunity was perhaps after lunch but we managed to lose wickets at the wrong time," he said.

He forecast a 220 target at tea but was happy, under the circumstances, to settle for 214.

With the weather outlook still dodgy, Barlow was relishing the Stags' chances of taking wickets in the first session tomorrow with Auckland openers Richard Jones (4) and Matt Horne (8) to resume their innings.

AN UNBEATEN century from Gary Stead and a half-century from fast bowler Shane Bond propelled Canterbury to 291 for seven at stumps on the opening day of their State Championship cricket match against Northern Districts yesterday.

Stead strolled from the Village Green in Christchurch 112 not out, accompanied by Bond who was also unbeaten on 52.

Canterbury had a horror start when openers Michael and Tim Papps were both back in the pavilion with just 10 runs on the board.

Peter Fulton steadied the ship before becoming one of Joseph Yovich's four victims when he was caught by James Marshall on 31.

Shanan Stewart chimed in with 46 before Stead and Bond piled on 99 runs for the eighth wicket.

Yovich finished with four for 70 while the other three wickets were evenly spread among the Northern Districts bowlers.

- NZPA