Wellington made a bit of a comeback after lunch with 19 year-old debutant Scott Kuggeleijn taking three quick wickets to kick off the CD collapse. Other than Ingram making 81 the rest of CD didn't fare too well. CD were 252 all out and Wellington will be disappointed having undone their good work in the field when they finished the day on 59 having lost three wickets. [/QUOTE] Day two and Wellington well and truly recovered to hold a solid lead at stumps tonight. Both Stephen Murdoch and James Franklin passing three figures, 103 and 127 not out respectively. For Murdoch, a good start to his first contracted season and Franklin's chances of a spot on the Aussie tour were done no harm. Grant Elliot (63) and Luke Woodcock (50 n/o) also contributed to Wellington's total of 407/5, leading by 154 runs. New coach Jamie Siddons will be happy with his sides performance so far.
Score card.
Trent Boult (24 7 48 5), Tim Southee (12 5 34 1) and Brent Arnel (24 6 54 2) bowled well in Whangarei with Boult and Southee at one stage having bowling figures of 13 13 2 and 8 8 1 respectively. I would expect both of these two to appear in the national side at some stage this summer. Southee looked to have a lighter bowling load in his first game back from injury. Auckland finished the day on a disappointing 250/5.
Southee and Boult carried on their form from yesterday to tear through the Auckland batting line up with Southee (9 2 23 3) and Boult (11 3 23 3) doing the bulk of the damage to restrict Auckland to only 139. ND have these two young bowlers to thank for being in the box seat, now needing just 264 from a possible 194 overs in their second innings to win the match.
Score card.
[QUOTE] Rob Nicol hit 16 fours and one six on his way to 107 off 203 balls to throw his name in the hat for a test spot after his recent good form in the one day side. Canterbury ended the day in control on 286/4.
Canterbury resumed today to take their total to 420/9 before declaring. The Canterbury top/middle order all contributing with starts. Neil Wagner and English international Steven Finn taking three wickets each. Otago walked off at stumps at 122/2, with youngster Mark Bracewell (41) and Neil Broom (14) at the crease.
Score card.
Again Southee and Boult putting in performances which will be hard for the NZ selectors to ignore. Along with Franklin who had some good form in India last time he played in a test series.
Just saw a story on the news saying Bracewell will be going to Australia which is a good move IMO but if they are to include Trent Boult and Southee it means we have a very inexperienced pace attack. Surely McKay won't be there if Boult is and I would think Mills might be included along with Martin to balance the experience with the youth. TopLeft072011-11-08 18:55:29
