Most of the Auckland Aces squad travelling to Christchurch this week for warm-up matches performed well for their clubs at the weekend.
And if fitness has anything to do with winning cricket matches, they should get off to a flying start.
All of the squad ran in the Auckland half-marathon yesterday
and were led home by the young Papatoetoe all-rounder, Gareth Shaw, who clocked 1h 29m. But the biggest cheer went to second finisher Llorne Howell, who finished in 1h 54m.
Howell had shed around 15kg in weight, after carrying 118kg for the past few seasons. But continuous injury problems and a loss of form had the 29-year-old former New Zealand one-day player hard-pressed even to make the East Coast Bays seniors.
Given a challenge by Aces coach Tony Sail, Howell worked with personal trainer Greg Tollan to run the half-marathon. "He had been training me just for cricket," Howell said, "but we tweaked my programme a bit and now I have made it."
Howell, with a club century this season, scored an unbeaten 32 for Bays, who beat Parnell. Aces opener Tim McIntosh, who completed yesterday's run in two hours, continued his run of form with 91.
Chris Drum, who also took two hours, bowled Birkenhead to victory over Grafton with a bag of 4-19 from 10 overs. Andre Adams (2h 30m for the run) scored 68 for Grafton.
An innings of 126 by Aaron Barnes (1h 58m) led Cornwall to victory over Suburbs New Lynn who had Aces Tama Canning back in action. North Shore beat Howick Pakuranga in a 20-over shootout.
In first-grade matches Eden Roskill all-rounder Samir Lala made 99 before he was brilliantly stumped by new Aces wicketkeeper Steve Pearson from a wide. But Eden Roskill still won by eight wickets.
John Cleland made 91 for Cornwall, who lost to Takapuna by three wickets. Papatoetoe beat Howick Pakuranga by five wickets.
