Cricket: Young Northern side give Aces a hurry-up

Not even the representative cricket team, all-conquering so far in the State Championship, could salvage a miserable weekend for most of Auckland's top sporting sides.

On top of defeats for the Blues in the Super 12 and for the Warriors in the NRL, the Aces struggled against Northern Districts on Eden Park's outer oval.

Northern yesterday continued to dominate the third of the match's four days and, after declaring their second innings at 278-6, left Auckland an imposing 388 to gain a victory.

Given the manner in which Auckland battled against an impressive Northern attack in their first innings on Saturday, when they were all out 153, that loomed as an almost impossible task.

And the difficulty became even greater when the consistent medium pacers Graham Aldridge and Joseph Yovich quickly knocked the top of the Auckland batting again.

Richard Jones and Rob Nicol went for ducks to Aldridge and Matt Horne was comprehensively skittled by Yovich. Even with Tama Canning leading a partial recovery Auckland, with just six wickets remaining, need 317 today.

Not a lot, of course, depends on this game. Auckland are already in the final of the four-day competition, almost certainly against Wellington, and Northern, even with one round remaining, are already out of the running.

But as a confidence-booster it was not a good match for Auckland, while the young Northern side would have benefited from the exercise for future development.

Especially satisfying was the fact that two of their most effective contributors in the second innings were two of the many youngsters blooded this season.

BJ Watling and Daniel Flynn were both in the national under-19 side at the Youth World Cup last year.

Watling, though slow as he had been in the first innings when he took 45 minutes without scoring, grafted for 232 minutes and 169 balls for 48 and Flynn, with a wider range of shots, scored an unbeaten 69 from his 177-minute, 138-ball stint.

It was the second half-century at first-class level for the 19-year old, who shared a 79-run sixth wicket stand with his captain, James Marshall, who scored 51.

* After three centuries, a double century and 950 runs in three of the allocated four days, the match between Central Districts and Wellington still has not progressed past the first innings.

Central Districts responded to Wellington's 590 for eight declared by posting an equally healthy 360 for four at stumps yesterday.

Wellington batsman Jesse Ryder scored 236 off 398 balls in an eight-hour stay to put Wellington in a strong position yesterday when teammate Neal Parlane played a supporting role with a fine 136 off 244 balls in 4 1/2 hours.

After two days in the field, Central Districts could have been expected to capitulate.

But the home team did far from that, with Jarrod Englefield bagging his third first-class century as he ended the day unbeaten on 108.

Teammate Ross Taylor got in on the act, too, by posting his maiden first-class century with 131 not out.

The Wellington fieldsmen kept reminding each other that they were one wicket from breaking through.

But once Englefield and Taylor were at the crease, playing plenty of attacking shots, the breakthrough did not come.

Despite the onslaught of runs on a flat if turning pitch at Fitzherbert Park, Central Districts still require another 80 runs to avoid the follow on.

They also need another 231 runs to snatch first innings points, something which looked impossible after Wellington declared after just one over yesterday morning after having been 587 for eight overnight.

Wellington are desperate to pocket first innings points as they chase one of the two finals spots available.

* Canterbury batsman Peter Fulton sent a clear message to the national selectors that he is ready for an international recall, with an unbeaten 221 in the match against Otago at Dunedin's University Oval.

Fulton, who has scored 532 runs at an average of 53.2 this season, was in devastating form.

He guided Canterbury to a position of power at 374 for five in their second innings at stumps on the third day - an overall lead of 390.

Fulton's innings was chanceless until dropped on 141 at deep mid-wicket off Bradley Scott.

He has played just the one limited-overs match for New Zealand, against Bangladesh last November. Opening the batting, he made nine from 10 deliveries.

Asked whether he thought he could be up for a recall, Fulton said it was out of his control so he did not waste too much energy thinking about it.

Fulton's innings marked a stark turnaround in the action after 18 wickets fell on Saturday.

"Obviously, it is a great wicket at the moment but it was pretty slow and seaming around a bit on the first day or two," he said.

"But it has got a lot flatter now and, apart from the foot marks for the offspinners, it's great to bat on."