KEY POINTS:
Mark O'Donnell, happy at last that Auckland's short game is making progress, now wants to see a similar improvement in his side's four-day fortunes.
Fresh from watching his team beat Otago by five wickets in the State Shield final in Dunedin on Saturday, the Auckland coach can now reflect on at least two provincial titles, following last week's Twenty20 success.
However, his chances of winning the four-day State Championship and picking up a rare treble when the competition resumes next week seem thin, given that the Aces are at the bottom of the table, 16 points adrift of leaders Canterbury.
With four rounds to go, O'Donnell accepts that his side have a mathematical chance of winning a third title, but reckons it would take a near faultless performance over the last four games.
"It's good that we've got the short game right; at least we've got one out of two," he said last night. "But I wouldn't mind having the guys winning at both formats. We can't be too greedy but I'd hope that we could make up a lot of ground when the four-day series resumes.
"You never know, if we could win three out of four, anything could happen."
Auckland wrapped up the one-day title after taking advantage of the seam-friendly conditions in Dunedin, bowling out Otago for 199 in 41.4 overs and then surging to the win with 28.3 overs remaining. Internationals Chris Martin and Andre Adams were the stars of the day as they tied the Otago batting into knots and finished with six wickets between them.
With the aid of the overhead conditions, the pair made the ball swing menacingly while bowling eight overs apiece, Martin ending with the impressive figures of three for seven and Adams three for 29.
Auckland were untroubled in reaching their winning target despite losing the wicket of pinch-hitting opener Paul Hitchcock for eight.
Black Caps opener Lou Vincent went for 17, caught by Nathan McCullum off the bowling of Nic Turner, but Richard Jones (44) steadied the ship with Scott Styris, who was dismissed for 40 when the scores were tied.
The win represented a massive form reversal for the Aucklanders, who managed to win just one of their 10 State Shield games last season.
"I felt a bit sorry for Otago because they'd played great cricket all summer and were simply caught out on a pitch that offered plenty," O'Donnell said.
"It's a title we hadn't won for a while either, and we'd gone close as losing finalists once, so everyone was very keen to take their opportunities and taste a bit of success."
- additional reporting NZPA
