Cricket: In-form Adams grabs five-wicket bag for Auckland

By RICHARD BOOCK


Andre Adams may have given the New Zealand selectors a timely reminder of his strike-power but Auckland were in danger of squandering his good work on the first day of their State Championship match against Northern Districts.

Axed from the New Zealand team after this year's World Cup tournament, Adams has been battling injury, and was not available for the five-match one-day series in Pakistan.

However, he picked the ideal time to bounce back into form at Westpac Park yesterday, snaring five for 40 in front of new national coach John Bracewell, as Northern scrambled to 130 on the opening day of the season.

Auckland also found things difficult in reply, on three occasions losing wickets from consecutive deliveries and ending the day at 99 for seven, still 31 runs in arrears with just three wickets in hand.

The good news for Auckland is that test opener Mark Richardson is still at the wicket on 40, and with Reece Young will shoulder much of the responsibility when the second day's play gets under way this morning.

For all Auckland's struggles, it was also a taxing opening day for the Northern side, who seemed to have made a solid start to the innings at 65 without loss, only to lose momentum and hand the advantage back.

The irony for Auckland was that, after struggling for the first couple of hours, they eventually surged back into the game courtesy of Adams and Kyle Mills, a pair of seamers who had come into the match under a cloud.

Adams was on the comeback trail after selection setbacks and injury, and Mills had only just been discharged from hospital after contracting a nasty viral infection in India and losing four kilograms of body weight

Mills made the initial breakthrough, removing Nick Horsely when the total was 65, and Auckland seemed galvanised by the success, picking up the wickets of James Marshall, Mark Orchard and Scott Styris with the total stalled on 78.

Adams trapped Marshall and Joey Yovich in front, had Styris caught at the wicket, Grant Robinson at gully, and ended the innings when he tempted Gareth West to slash at one of his trademark long-hops.

Apart from Horsely and Robinson, and to a lesser extent Marshall, Northern's batting line-up lacked the usual commitment and discipline, with even Robbie Hart falling to an uncharacteristically loose drive.

A sobering point for the Northern side was that five of their batsman failed to score.

Their brightest moments came after the change of innings, when first Yovich, then Styris and finally Orchard found themselves on the verge of taking a hat-trick, as Northern battled their way back into contention.

Only two runs were on the board when Vincent shouldered arms to a ball that bowled him and McIntosh was trapped in front, leaving some serious salvage work in the hand of Mark Richardson and Matt Horne.

Auckland were again rocked by back-to-back wickets when the total was 61 losing Horne (caught at the wicket) and Rob Nicol (trapped in front by a shooter), and suffered the same fate at 86, when Orchard sent back Aaron Barnes and Mills.