Cricket: Only one direction left for Auckland to go

With only one way to go and with their top-three playoff hopes likely quickly to become a forlorn hope, Auckland coach Mark O'Donnell will be hoping his more-than-useful side can quickly take their outstanding State Championship form into the one-day arena.

Last, and without a win in five State Shield matches - their only points from two abandoned games - Auckland are surely better than that as their four-from-four outright wins in the longer version attest.

Playing the Central Stags on Eden Park's outer oval from 11am today, the Aces must hit the ground running and chase not only the winning points but, if possible, a bonus point as well.

Central, without Jacob Oram and Michael Mason - both are likely to miss the remaining Shield matches - go into the match in top place with three wins, a no result, and two bonus points to have them a couple of points ahead of Northern.

The surprise might come from Otago, who play second-to-last Wellington at the Basin Reserve.

Only two points out of the top two, Otago, the only other team with two bonus points, have the best runs differential, which could prove vital in the final analysis after the last round-robin matches, on Waitangi Day.

"We are still there, as are a number of other teams in the competition," Otago coach Glenn Turner said after his team had a workout at the Basin Reserve yesterday.

"The pitch here looks to be a good one so we could see some runs."

Otago welcome back Jeff Wilson but generally have an unchanged line-up.

Wellington have Black Caps captain Stephen Fleming in to strengthen their top order, and captain Matthew Bell will be looking for more runs from double-century-maker Michael Parlane as the home side attempt to turn around the memories of the outright loss to Northern in Gisborne after Parlane had played them into what should have been a winning position.

The Northern Knights hardly had the ideal preparation yesterday when they spent much of the day on a bus getting from the original venue in Hamilton to Gisborne for today's game against Canterbury at Harry Barker Reserve.

Daryl Tuffey, Scott Styris and Hamish Marshall have rejoined Northern after the tsunami appeal matches, and James Marshall, who missed the last championship match, is back to lead the side.

Canterbury have internationals Craig McMillan, Chris Cairns, Nathan Astle and Brendon McCullum ready for action and go into the match just a point back from Northern.

Most teams are reporting injuries, as they enter the second phase of the competition. The ability to cover for players forced out could be the telling difference in the race for the top three.

Another round of three matches will be played on Sunday.