Cricket: Auckland stumble but Vincent marches on

Auckland fought back after a poor start against Wellington on the opening day of their fifth-round Shell Trophy cricket match at the Basin Reserve yesterday.

In the expectation the pitch would be lively, Wellington included all four of their seam bowlers, and put Auckland in after winning the toss.

It looked a good decision, with the visitors 20 for three and 68 for four in the first over after lunch.

But opener Tim McIntosh (61) and the menacing Lou Vincent (65) helped Auckland to recover as they added 93 in 107 minutes for the fifth wicket.

At stumps, Auckland were 248 for eight.

In Christchurch, Canterbury captain Gary Stead and tailender Carl Anderson rescued their side from a disastrous 13 for six against Central Districts.

Canterbury's first five wickets had fallen with just eight runs on the board before Stead, with 92, and Anderson (63) saw their team through to 220.

At stumps, Central were 88 for two in reply.

Central seamers Michael Mason and Gareth West had to wait just 32 minutes before Canterbury's spectacular collapse began.

Canterbury opening batsmen Harley James and Jarrod Englefield were out to the last two balls of Mason's fifth over.

West removed Robbie Frew next ball, then dismissed Michael Papps and Aaron Redmond off the fifth and sixth deliveries.

The carnage had occurred in just eight deliveries.

Having replaced Englefield, Stead stood helplessly at the non-striker's end.

When the dust cleared, both bowlers were on hat-tricks and all of Stead's frontline batting troops had been disposed of.

Stead was to face both hat-trick balls. He defused Mason's with a confident straight drive for three, and West's with a firm defensive shot.

Wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins was sixth out at 13.

Warren Wisneski helped Stead to mount the initial fightback during a 39-run partnership in better than even time.

But 52 for seven was still a rout, with all the portents that Stead would soon be the last man standing.

It was then that Anderson arrived to partner Stead in the stand that Canterbury desperately needed.

In Dunedin, Craig Cumming became Otago's secret weapon with three cheap wickets as Northern Districts crawled to stumps on 223 for nine after being sent into bat.

Cumming, a top-order batsman, earned his keep as a change bowler when he claimed career-best figures of three for 29 off 13 overs with his innocuous-looking medium pace.

He was an instant success after Northern were well placed at 113 for two, while the Otago attack was handicapped by injury to Shayne O'Connor.

All but two of the Northern batsmen made starts, but only left-handed opener Joseph Yovich dug in for the long haul. He batted for 214 minutes and 150 balls for his 42 before he was caught in the slips.

- NZPA