Cricket: McIntosh puts in some quality time

Incumbent test opener Tim McIntosh was the chief beneficiary as Auckland and Central Districts' Plunket Shield cricket match on a benign Nelson Park in Napier dawdled to a stalemate yesterday.

In need of tune-up runs before the three-test series against Pakistan opens in Dunedin on November 24, McIntosh at least logged some valuable time in the middle.

He posted a typically reticent 67 in a touch over three hours before the match ended prematurely at the tea interval.

The left-hander, who made five on Tuesday, knuckled down to post his half century from 132 balls as the visitors were condemned to batting practice after conceding first innings points on Thursday.

McIntosh and Richard Jones added 138 for the first wicket, ultimately a stand of little consequence.

McIntosh, who endured a tough initiation to the subcontinent against Sri Lanka in August, ultimately faced 149 balls interspersed with seven boundaries.

Jones also reached his 50 before lunch and was desperately close to notching a century, making 98 from 191 balls before he was adjudged leg before wicket to seamer Michael Mason.

Auckland, restarting on 14 without loss, were 232 for three when stumps were drawn with a session remaining - a lead of 217.

CD secured the two first innings points in tense circumstances, scraping past Auckland's first innings of 403 when nine wickets down. Mathew Sinclair glued the pursuit together with 165 - his 28th first class century.

Auckland travel to Wellington when the second round starts on Tuesday while Central Districts are also on the road to Whangarei to play Northern Districts.

At the Basin Reserve in Wellington, Kruger Van Wyk ensured wicketkeeping counterpart Chris Nevin's 100th first-class cricket match ended in anticlimax after the South African successfully stalled the hosts.

Van Wyk's unbeaten 85 was the dominant role in a seventh-wicket salvage operation with Andrew Ellis and guided Canterbury to safety before bad light curtailed play seven overs before the scheduled close.

Set 255 to add an outright victory to their first innings points, Canterbury were 191 for six at the close, a significant improvement after they had slid to 91 for six in the middle session.

Captain Van Wyk and the resolute Ellis, who nurdled 12 from 112 deliveries, thwarted any hope of Wellington getting a return from the opening round Plunket Shield encounter. The pair added a neat 100.

Canterbury secured first-innings points on Thursday when eclipsing Wellington's initial 214.

They host Otago, who lost to Northern Districts yesterday, in round two starting on Tuesday. Wellington has a second home appointment, this time against Auckland.

- NZPA