Cricket: Mohawk man a cut above the rest

Wellington opening batsman Chris Nevin, another of the many discards from the Black Caps over the past season, scored a brilliant century at the top of the order when his side beat Auckland at Eden Park yesterday.

But the real hero for the capital side was a man with an outrageous mohawk haircut, Mark Gillespie.

Gillespie's bleached hairstyle makes him a standout in the field in any circumstances. This time his cricket did the talking.

He first dragged down a sizzler at square leg from the bat of the dangerous Lou Vincent to remove him for six. He then drew a false shot from Rob Nicol on 56 and had him caught at cover. That was followed by a great catch on the boundary to send Paul Hitchcock packing for nine, and he hit the stumps of tailenders Brooke Walker and Kerry Walmsley with his brisk medium-fast pace.

But the most decisive dismissal by the 23-year-old from Wanganui was to run out Aaron Barnes with a reflex action from his own bowling, for 23.

Gillespie finished with four for 43 from his 10 overs.

Losing the toss and being sent out to field was not a great start for Auckland.

There was no question that the best of the main oval drop-in wicket was in the first couple of hours, which is when Wellington prospered.

Nevin faced 123 balls for his century and peppered the boundary with 11 fours and four sixes. He and James Franklin (39) added 92 in a crucial partnership for the fourth wicket.

Franklin fell in the 41st over and, although Wellington added another 54 from the remaining 58 balls, the wicket had obviously slowed.

Auckland made a dreadful start when Llorne Howell went leg-before from the sixth ball of the innings and without a run on the board.

Vincent went for six in the fourth over with the score at 13. From then on it was tough going and no matter how hard the Auckland batsmen tried, they could hardly hit the ball off the square.

Auckland will play on the same Eden Park strip tomorrow against Northern Districts.

In other State Shield matches yesterday, Canterbury beat Northern by nine wickets in Rangiora, and the previously unbeaten Otago side went down by 41 runs to Central in Masterton.

On a pitch offering something for the bowlers, Central batted first and racked up 232. Otago faltered against the experienced Central spin twins of Glen Sulzberger and Campbell Furlong, being dismissed for 191.