Cricket: Vacancies in Auckland

Paul Strang. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Auckland will take on Central Districts in the third round of the Plunket Shield cricket at Colin Maiden Park next week needing two new opening bowlers and a new captain.

Beaten by six wickets by Otago yesterday, the Aucklanders bid farewell for the moment to captain Kyle Mills and his fellow strike bowler Daryl Tuffey, who fly out today for India to join the Black Caps for the one-day series.

One more than adequate replacement is raring to go - last season's Bowler of the Year Michael Bates reckons he is over the injury niggle that sidelined him this week.

Contenders for the other bowling place include Colin Munro and Lance Shaw. But it is the batsmen who have to step up after disappointing performances by the top order at vital stages.

Yesterday Otago carried on from their overnight total of 154 for four without further loss, adding the 43 runs they needed at close-to-even time.

Not out at the finish were Neil Broom on 50 and Derek de Boorder on 31.

Auckland coach Paul Strang was philosophical about the defeat after Auckland had led on the first innings by six runs to pick up their first points of the season.

"It wasn't a train wreck," Strang said. "We had one bad session yesterday morning when we went from 20 for two to 45 for five. Otherwise it was pretty even."

But having won the toss and opted to bat on a pitch that was never too helpful to the bowlers, Auckland's first innings of 298 left the visitors in the game and with left-armer Neil Wagner taking 10 wickets in the match they trumped the Aces.

Central Districts come to Auckland at the top of the table after two maximum points wins.

At Napier yesterday they beat Canterbury by four wickets but only after a second-innings scare.

Needing 155 to earn the win, they slumped to 117 for six as a hostile Ryan McCone took four wickets.

But Doug Bracewell (27) and former Canterbury wicketkeeper Kruger Van Wyk (13) stopped the rot and reached the target with plenty of time to spare.

In Wellington Northern Districts beat Wellington by 10 wickets with a session to spare.

Needing 72 runs to complete the victory, openers Brad Wilson (27) and Anton Devcich (36) needed only 13 overs to seal the win.

Central Districts have a six-point lead over Northern at the top of the table. Otago are four points further back, while Auckland are off the mark with two points.