KEY POINTS:
The break in domestic first-class cricket can't come soon enough for Auckland after a dismal loss to Northern Districts yesterday.
Auckland were gone before lunch on the final day at Eden Park and are last on the State Championship ladder, with only two points to show for four matches.
Yesterday, resuming at 63 for five, chasing an improbable 436 to win, they were dismissed for 117, handing ND a 318-run victory, their biggest winning runs margin in the province's 51st first-class summer.
Wicketkeeper Peter McGlashan took six catches in the innings, becoming the ninth keeper to take that many in domestic cricket.
But the ND record is still Bryan Young's seven catches against Canterbury in 1986-87.
The main damage was done by fast-medium bowler Graeme Aldridge, who took three of yesterday's five wickets for his best first-class figures.
He also sealed ND's win by catching Colin Munro on the fine leg fence to complete the rout.
But this was a team job, and Aldridge, Joseph Yovich, Brent Arnel and Mark Orchard all made contributions.
Orchard's figures - 18 bowled, 16 runs conceded - ensured there were no soft runs, and the tall, lively Arnel can reflect happily on figures of seven for 57 off 24.3 overs.
ND used only four bowlers in the match. They didn't need any more.
The consensus on the pitch was that runs could be scored if batsmen were prepared to knuckle down.
Four of the five half centuries in the match came from ND batsmen although one of those four, captain James Marshall, conceded after the match that "you always thought sooner or later a wicket ball was round the corner".
But the main point was his batsmen were willing to battle and got the rewards.
Marshall was delighted with the efforts of his bowlers - "a real pack of wolves" - and senses that after a grim last season, when ND finished bottom of the championship and second last in the one-day shield competition, things are on the up.
"A few of our younger guys have been here three or four seasons and it's time to get results. The senior guys are stepping up and the younger guys have learned from that," he said.
ND played like a team loaded with commitment. What of Auckland?
The fifth round of the championship starts on February 19, giving them plenty of time to reflect on what's happened - or more to the point, what hasn't.
Last summer, Auckland were fifth in the championship, and bottom in the one-dayers.
They can't claim the absence of New Zealand players has hurt them.
Of the side getting hammered by Sri Lanka in Wellington, only fast-medium Chris Martin is missing, and there were four New Zealand representatives in the XI.
It is the batting, rather than the bowling, which should be causing anxiety.
The bowlers battled away gamely; the batsmen didn't.
Wickets weren't treasured sufficiently. ND took all 20 in only 105.1 overs. Add to that ND's superior batting and it all amounted to a decent five-star duffing.
The one-dayers start on Saturday, when these teams will reconvene at the same ground.
* Canterbury took first innings points from their draw with defending champions Central Districts in Christchurch yesterday.
The high point of the last day was CD opener Peter Ingram's second hundred of the match.
His 166 not out off 326 balls with 26 fours followed his 119 in the first innings.
CD were 358 for three when the game was called off, holding a 152-run lead on Canterbury overall.
Ingram became the fourth CD player to hit hundreds in both innings of a first-class game, after Martin Crowe (1986-87), Jamie How and Mathew Sinclair - and it's the third successive season in which a CD batsman has achieved the feat.
* Otago also ended up with first innings points in their draw with Wellington in Dunedin.
Wellington resumed on 201 for one yesterday after rain prevented any play on Saturday.
The match ended early with former test opener Matthew Bell 161 not out, his record-equalling 15th century for the province.
Captain Michael Parlane hit 140, his 12th hundred at this level.
Their stand of 279 fell eight short of the Wellington record for the second wicket against allcomers, which Bell set with Jason Wells against Auckland in 1997-98.
It completed a huge turnaround for Wellington, who were asked to follow on after being skittled for 71 in their first innings.
