Cricket: Auckland seek revenge over leaders

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Five days after going down by four wickets to Wellington, Auckland have the chance to get revenge when the two teams meet again in a key one-day match today.

The State Shield has just three rounds remaining before next week's semifinal.

With only four points between joint leaders Wellington and Northern Districts, and bottom-placed Otago, there is plenty of cricket to be played before the top three are found.

All today's matches are vital, with the clash at North Harbour Stadium's outer oval perhaps the most interesting. Lou Vincent, who played as a batsman in Sunday's win over Central Districts in New Plymouth, will take the wicketkeeping gloves.

His deputy, Tim McIntosh, who picked up three catches in Sunday's 29-run win, will play as a batsman only today.

"If we perform well, I'm sure we can reverse last week's result," Auckland coach Mark O'Donnell said. "But we haven't been as consistent as we want.

"Last week we captured the wickets of Matthew Bell and Chris Nevin early, but couldn't carry it on and let Richard Jones and Stephen Fleming get away."

Andre Adams returns to the Auckland team and seems likely to play. He replaces Mark Richardson, who was 12th man against Central.

World Cup-bound Jacob Oram also returns to action and will lead Central in their game against Otago at Carisbrook.

Oram replaces Andrew Schwass.

Central lost to Auckland in their last game, but remain in third place.

Otago have dropped from top-equal to bottom after three consecutive losses and need to win to breathe life back into their campaign.

Two years ago they won three of their first four games, but finished the season with six consecutive losses.

Otago do not want to repeat that unfortunate sequence this summer, and captain Craig Cumming said the players realised the importance of today's match.

"For us, it's a must-win clash," he said.

"We've got to play with a lot of desperation and energy, and perform to our ability.

"Teams can go from the top to the bottom and vice versa in one round, the way the points table is."

Otago will take an unchanged 12 into the game, but what they will want to change is the irresolute batting and sometimes wayward bowling which has cost them so dearly in the last three matches.

"When we had three straight wins, our success was based on partnerships, a couple of guys getting good scores with good strike-rates," Cumming said. "We need that to happen again.

"We haven't been accurate enough in our bowling. We need to tighten up there and hopefully it will come together in a better team performance. One or two overs can change the momentum of a game, he said.

"It's important we stick together through those tough periods and outlast the opposition."

The other teams remain unchanged, with Canterbury playing Northern Districts in Timaru.

With Oram returning, only Canterbury's Shane Bond and Nathan Astle of New Zealand's World Cup squad will not be playing today.

Points going into the eighth round: Wellington, Northern Districts 18; Central Districts 16; Canterbury, Auckland 15; Otago 14.

The top team after Sunday's last round qualify for the final. The second and third sides meet in the semifinal on Wednesday, with the winner going through to the February 1 final.

Auckland v Wellington, North Harbour Stadium outer oval (noon) -

Auckland: Llorne Howell, Matt Horne, Lou Vincent, Rob Nicol, Aaron Barnes, Tim McIntosh, Kyle Mills, Andre Adams, Tama Canning, Craig Pryor, Brooke Walker (capt), Heath Davis.

Wellington: Chris Nevin, Matthew Bell (capt), Stephen Fleming, Richard Jones, Neal Parlane, Matthew Walker, Grant Donaldson, Paul Hitchcock, James Franklin, Mark Jefferson, Mayu Pasupati, Mark Gillespie.

Canterbury v Northern Districts, Aorangi Park, Timaru (noon) -

Canterbury: Michael Papps, Shannan Stewart, Craig McMillan, Gary Stead (capt), Chris Cairns, Chris Harris, Peter Fulton, Hayden Shaw, Carl Anderson, Stephen Cunis, Paul Wiseman, Chris Martin.

Northern Districts: James Marshall, Daniel Vettori, Michael Parlane, Scott Styris, Mark Orchard, Matthew Hart, Robbie Hart (capt), Hamish Marshall, Joseph Yovich, Daryl Tuffey, Ian Butler, Graeme Aldridge.

Otago v Central Districts, Carisbrook, Dunedin (noon) -

Otago: Robbie Lawson, Muhammad Wasim, Brendon McCullum, Craig Cumming (capt), Marcel McKenzie, Jordan Sheed, Peter McGlashan, Warren McSkimming, Nathan Morland, Shayne O'Connor, Kerry Walmsley, James McMillan.

Central Districts: Craig Spearman, Jesse Ryder, Mathew Sinclair, Jamie How, Jacob Oram (capt), Glen Sulzberger, Ian Sandbrook, Bevan Griggs, Campbell Furlong, Michael Mason, Brent Hefford, Lance Hamilton.