Cricket: Vincent leads Auckland to comprehensive win

By RICHARD BOOCK

Lou Vincent struck a blow for New Zealand's beleaguered batsmen yesterday and promptly lambasted the state of domestic pitches, saying they were turning the art of run-scoring into a lottery.

Only a day after New Zealand's batsmen had been embarrassed at home and abroad, Vincent led something of a revival at Westpac Park, where his unbeaten 70 guided Auckland to a comprehensive nine-wicket win over Northern Districts.

Easily the highest individual score of the match, it shone like a beacon after consecutive innings scores of 130, 141 and 120, and allowed the ambitiously scheduled four-dayer to be wound up just before 11.30am with the best part of two days' play remaining.

The pitch in Hamilton, where the first test against Pakistan starts in just over a fortnight, proved a nightmare for batsmen and a delight for all the medium-pacers, who found the Members End particularly variable.

There, a basin-shaped hollow meant deliveries would either keep low or bounce sharply, depending on whether the ball hit the downward or upward part of the depression.

Vincent, who yesterday batted like a man with an extremely short life-expectancy, said it was difficult for batsmen in New Zealand to make genuine progress when the pitches were so often stacked against them.

He said the unpredictability was affecting the way New Zealand batsmen played the game and he believed it was responsible for premeditation, lapses in confidence and tactical adjustments such as a more aggressive or conservative approach.

"You set yourself up in your stance and you're not sure what the ball's going to do," he said. "There's no confidence in the bounce or pace; one will take off, the next will stay down.

"As a batter, I know you've only got a split second to decide which type of shot you'll play, and when the pitch is like this it makes life pretty difficult. It turns it into a gamble."

Vincent adopted the aggressive approach yesterday, scoring his runs off just 95 balls, including a dozen fours and two sixes - one a hook off paceman Ian Butler and a lofted drive off spinner Bruce Martin.

The only wicket to fall on the way to the winning target of 110 was that of Vincent's test opening partner Mark Richardson, who was caught at the wicket for 20 with the total on 53.

A salient point for both teams was that the entire match was completed in just 207.3 overs, with the respective innings lasting 61, 60.2, 60.4 and 25.3 overs, lending weight to Vincent's belief that he was better to go after the runs while he could.

"I've played in Aussie and it's great to know how the ball will behave," he said.

"Over here, the medium-pacers just put the ball in the right place and the pitch does the rest - hell, they even have three slips.

"Because of that, the batsmen are forced to play a different style of cricket. They can either graft or attack, and that's frustrating for me, because I like to stroke the ball around and collect my runs."

Auckland coach Mark O'Donnell said there were plenty of positives to counter-balance the injury to Craig Pryor, in doubt for the next game against Otago after suffering a deep muscle strain in his right shoulder.

O'Donnell was particularly pleased with the effort of New Zealand pace bowler Kyle Mills, who spent three nights in hospital with a virus after returning from India, and lost 7.5kg of bodyweight.

"We got some real good things out of the game," he said. "We had limited bowling resources after Craig was injured but 'Millsy', who was off-colour, and Andre Adams stepped up and bowled nicely. I thought both of them showed real guts.

"As for the batting, it was a very difficult wicket to score runs on and an even harder one to trust. The way Louie and Mark went out there and played positively was great for us."

Apart from taking the maximum points, the other highlight for the Auckland players was an after-match footrace between Richardson, nicknamed Rigor (mortis) on account of his flexibility and Auckland stalwart Aaron Barnes.

Against all odds, Richardson won by two metres and immediately began his victory celebrations, while Barnes was last seen disappearing under the grandstand in embarrassment, muttering something about "having just bowled 15 overs".