KEY POINTS:
Englishman James Anderson had no chance yesterday to respond with either bat or ball to the furore surrounding his recruitment to the Auckland cricket side.
Anderson never left the changing room as Auckland grafted their way to 289 for six on a dead pitch at Eden Park's outer oval. But his time will come today when he will surely both bat and bowl for his new, albeit temporary, team.
Yesterday the debate over Auckland's decision to offer valuable match practice to the England test bowler rumbled on, with Northern Districts chief executive David Cooper objecting to comparisons with his province's decision to recruit Andrew Strauss prior to England's tour.
"Strauss was not in an England side, was contracted in December before arriving at our expense in January and came for a period of time not conditioned by selection in the England side," Cooper said. "The decision by Auckland to play Anderson is exceptionally disappointing."
New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan has also criticised the move, as has Wellington Cricket chief executive Gavin Larson.
One school of thought is that Anderson is denying a local player a first-class berth, but with Englishman Charlie Shreck opening the bowling for Wellington, that argument would seem to fall a little flat.
Not quite as flat as the Eden Park pitch, however, which was so lifeless Wellington wicketkeeper Chris Nevin was forced to scoop balls from around his ankles throughout the day.
Having won the toss and chosen to bat, Auckland found themselves in early trouble when released Black Caps paceman Mark Gillespie nicked out Tim McIntosh for a duck with the last ball of the first over.
Auckland captain Richard Jones (22) then fell to another Black Caps squad member, South African-born allrounder Grant Elliott, with the score on 41.
Wickets continued to fall in steady intervals and by lunch Auckland had slumped to 102/4, with Martin Guptil (21) and Rob Nicol (34) also prised out by Wellington's seamers.
When Colin de Grandholme (9) had his middle stump removed by Dewayne Bowden with just two runs added to the lunchtime score, Auckland looked in serious trouble. But 19-year-old debutant Andrew de Boorder looked immediately assured peppering the leg-side boundary throughout his undefeated 85. It was a good day for the de Boorder family, with Andrew's brother Derek making a half century for Otago against Northern Districts.
Wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins (66) put on 106 with de Border until left-arm spinner Mark Houghton broke the stand in the final session. De Border then found an ally in Michael Bates (28 not out), the pair putting on an unbroken stand of 79 to take Auckland safely through to stumps.
