Cricket: No frills approach works for Auckland

By TERRY MADDAFORD

The notion that one-day cricket is all about flashy shots, big hits and quick runs was tempered somewhat as Auckland adopted a no-frills approach in their 109-run Shell Cup triumph over Northern Districts in Hamilton yesterday.

Auckland made 241 and then dismissed Northern for 132.

Smarting from their two-wicket Shell Trophy loss to Northern at WestpacTrust Park on Saturday, Auckland played it sensibly.

Content to build their innings gradually with openers Llorne Howell and Aaron Barnes facing the varied Northern attack - Simon Doull all fired up and ready to go at one end and Grant Bradburn's searching offspin from the other - Auckland reached 41 without loss from their first 10 overs.

The only extravagance came when Howell helped himself to a six and a four from successive Doull deliveries.

After that 35-minute opening stand, the visitors lost their way a little as trophy hero Graeme Aldridge removed Barnes and Lou Vincent, and Bradburn, in his 101st cup game, undid Howell.

But any chance of cleaning the Aucklanders out disappeared as captain Blair Pocock and Dion Nash called on their combined experience of more than 80 such games to give the middle-order the boost it needed.

It was intelligent stuff as they added 103 runs in 108 minutes to reach 151.

Pocock, 112 minutes and just one boundary in his 39, and Nash, five fours in his patient 145-minute stay for 71, showed there is another way to play the abbreviated game.

Reaching 149 after 40 overs, the pair had laid the foundation.

That gave licence for an all-out assault.

Nash provided the anchor as Tama Canning, 32 from 19 balls, and Andre Adams, who was still there at the end with 36 from a 19-ball cameo which included two hits to the ropes and two over it, took the total to 241.

Without the rollicking start they have always looked to, Northern were soon struggling, although there was the suggestion Michael Parlane was unlucky.

After a 16-minute stay for seven runs, Parlane played a rising ball from Chris Drum. He got a top edge which sent the ball high in the air before it fell into Vincent's wicketkeeping gloves.

Vincent juggled it a couple of times before clutching it to claim the catch.

Parlane looked plaintively at umpire Tony Hill in the hope of a no-ball call.

Getting none, he walked to the pavilion to start what became a steady procession. Only Mark Bailey, 48 runs in a minute short of two hours, offered anything against an Auckland attack which had shown plenty in the four-day game.

Adams, who took five for seven when the teams last met - in the cup semifinal last year, which went to the last ball of the 50th over before Auckland won by a wicket - completed a good double with the scalps of Neal Parlane (with his first delivery) and Bradburn when he and Bailey looked likely to build a decent partnership.

With five bowlers taking two each, the visitors completed a comprehensive victory built on a solid team effort.

Even the one or two blemishes in the field were forgotten.