Cricket: Canterbury coach wants improvement

By Terry Maddaford

Canterbury cricket coach Garry MacDonald has called for a much improved fielding effort in today's second-round Shell Cup match against Northern Districts at Blake Park, Mt Maunganui.

"We fielded like lop-headed donkeys," MacDonald said yesterday as he reflected on Canterbury's last-ditch win over Otago in Christchurch on Monday.

"Until Tim Walton pulled off that stunner [the catch which dismissed Michael Lamont for 80] we hadn't done much in the field."

But somewhat surprisingly, Northern coach Chris Kuggeleijn has shrugged off suggestions that his team also needed to pick up their work in the field by saying that dropped catches in the loss to Central Districts in Taupo had been compensated for with a couple of good ones.

But Northern's problems in the field went deeper than that, with some half-hearted attempts to get down to the ball and some wayward returns to
wicketkeeper Robbie Hart.

Canterbury opening batsman Llorne Howell travelled with his team-mates yesterday and seems set to play despite having taken a nasty blow on the hand.

"Llorne wasn't interested in getting it x-rayed. The physio has strapped it so he should be okay," MacDonald said.

Canterbury have a suqad of 13, including former Auckland all-rounder Hamish Barton, who has been added after a good effort for the Canterbury Second Xl.

MacDonald said he expected something extra from Chris Harris, who is likely to have only two further Cup games before being recalled to international duty.

The Blake Park clash is a repeat of last year's final in which the Northern Knights won by 55 runs to complete a hat-trick of wins over Canterbury last season.

Northern have seven of that final winning side on duty today, while Canterbury have only five back.

Auckland have stuck to the same squad for today's outer oval clash at Eden Park against Central Districts, with Aaron Barnes - the top-scorer in Auckland's 111-run loss to Wellington on Monday - expected to be fit to play despite a
slight hamstring problem.

To put pressure on the confident, but often under-rated Dipak Patel-coached Central side, Auckland must score runs at the top of their order.

Losing internationals Bryan Young and Blair Pocock so cheaply against Wellington put paid to any real game plan for the home side and left them to play catch-up, which is never easy at this level.

Against Northern, Central played steadily rather than spectacularly and were justly rewarded with a 28-win victory.

In the third game today - interestingly the three first round winners are playing the first round losers - Otago are at home to Wellington.

The game at Eden Park starts at 11am and in Mt Maunganui at noon.