Cricket: Capital ahead in battle of attrition

Central Districts blinked first to lose the initiative in the State Championship final against Wellington yesterday.

The second day of the five-day final at the Basin Reserve in Wellington at least showed signs of life after the home side decided to follow one of the game's fundamentals.

Having spent all of Monday bowling defensively to set fields against circumspect Central Districts batsmen, Wellington yesterday directed the ball at the stumps.

The teams stared down one another on the first day as Central Districts crawled to 184 for two off almost 87 overs.

That position did not sit uncomfortably with Wellington, who need only draw the final to win the title because they qualified to.

Central require an outright win which seems unlikely as Wellington reached 93 for two in their first innings yesterday to trail by 219 after the visitors were dismissed for 312 after lunch.

Wellington took their time getting there, too, using up 38 overs as captain Matthew Bell carefully plotted his way to 51 not out while the dangerous Jesse Ryder will resume today on 20.

Wellington's two wickets went to leg before decisions, first against opener Luke Woodcock, who shouldered arms to the first ball he received, and then Michael Parlane for 14.

Time is Wellington's friend, not runs, so a rapid increase in the pace of the match should not be expected.

Wellington made all the running yesterday after their disciplined bowling attack refined their line to the Central Districts batsmen. The results were immediate, as Central Districts crashed from 206 for two and their last five wickets accounted for just 26 runs.

Mathew Sinclair, on 55 overnight, had advanced to 67 when he offered a return catch to seamer Roger Fouhy which should have been accepted. Two overs later Fouhy made amends, drawing Sinclair forward to edge to wicketkeeper Stu Mills.

It was the maiden first-class wicket for Fouhy, making his State Championship debut at 34.

Ewen Thompson proved more than nuisance value in making an unbeaten 36, but there was nothing of note offered around him as Ross Taylor and Bevan Griggs failed to build on promising starts.

Griggs reached 23 before edging behind off Scott Rasmussen, while Taylor departed for 25 after a quick pick up and direct hit from Fouhy ran him out.

The Wellington bowlers all toiled hard and none was better than Rasmussen, who returned figures of four for 67 off 33 overs.

Fouhy also got through a heavy workload to take one for 68 off 30, the same number of overs delivered by Grant Elliott, who went wicketless while also grudgingly giving up 68 runs.

WELLINGTON V CENTRAL DISTRICTS

(Basin Reserve)

Stumps, second day

CENTRAL DISTRICTS

First innings

J. Englefield c Mills b Rasmussen 69
G. Barnett lbw Rasmussen 41
M. Sinclair c Mills b Fouhy 67
R. Taylor run out 25
T. Weston b Bowden 14
B. Griggs c Nevin b Rasmussen 23
E. Thompson not out 36
B. Diamanti lbw b Rasmussen 0
M. Patel run out 12
M. Mason b Ryder 2
L. Hamilton b Ryder 0
Extras (4b, 14lb, 2w, 3nb) 23
--Total (131.3 overs) 312
Fall: 1/81, 2/176, 3/206, 4/237, 5/238, 6/286, 7/286, 8/304, 9/312, 10/312.

Bowling: S. Rasmussen 33-13-67-4, R. Fouhy 30-9-68-1, G. Elliott 30-7-68-0, (1w), D. Bowden 22-7-58-1 (1w), J. Ryder 16.3-6-33-2 (3nb).

WELLINGTON

First innings

M. Bell not out 51
L. Woodcock lbw b Hamilton 0
M. Parlane lbw b Thompson 17
J. Ryder not out 20
Extras (5nb) 5
--Total (for 2 wkts, 38 overs) 93
Fall: 1/2, 2/47.

Bowling: M. Mason 9-0-33-0 (3nb), L. Hamilton 7-3-16-1 (1nb), E. Thompson 9-3-20-1 (1nb), B. Diamanti 7-3-18-0, M. Patel 6-3-6-0.

- NZPA