Cricket: Weather wreaks havoc with Plunket Shield

Ross Taylor of the CD Stags. Photo / File

New Zealand captain Ross Taylor will head into the test series against South Africa without any time at the crease, after the weather bomb played havoc with the Plunket Shield today.

Taylor, Dan Vettori, Trent Boult, Brent Arnel and Chris Martin, were scheduled to play two days for their provinces before joining up with the Black Caps for the first test in Dunedin, starting Wednesday.

For Taylor, that entailed one day in the field and one in the pavilion, after rain restricted the second day of Central Districts' match against Auckland. Napier was the only venue where the skies cleared enough for the players to take to the middle, and that was only momentarily.

Wellington v Canterbury

Wellington's clash with Canterbury was abandoned at the Basin Reserve early in the day, leaving the Wizards on their overnight score of 283-5, while Northern Districts were unable to add to the 143-4 they posted yesterday against Otago in Hamilton.

But it was Taylor who was most in need of some fine weather, as the first two days of Central Districts' match doubled as the entirety of his attempts to recover from the torn calf he suffered against Zimbabwe in January.

CD v Auckland

After spending yesterday in the field as the Stags restricted Auckland to 234, Taylor could only watch as the plug was pulled on his side's efforts with the bat after less than an hour this morning.

In that time, Martin struck with the fifth ball of the day to remove Central opener Ben Smith for a duck, while Carl Cachopa (7no) and Matt Sinclair (14no) were the unbeaten batsmen when the heavens opened. The Stags will resume on Sunday, weather permitting, on 23-1 from 12.4 overs.