Cricket: Northern face a struggle in spite of Butler's return

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Northern Districts have Ian Butler back to spearhead their attack when they meet Wellington at the Basin Reserve but even that might not be enough to turn around what has been an unhappy season for the Robbie Hart-led side.

With three outright losses and only two points from the opening five rounds of this season's State Championship cricket, Northern, hopes are not great.

Wellington thumped them by 94 runs in their earlier clash and with a largely unchanged team Northern, who have reappointed coach Bruce Blair for a further two years, may struggle to do better this time.

After those initial five round-robins, the top three teams now meet the bottom three - with first-round points carried forward.

With five internationals - Matthew Bell, Richard Jones, James Franklin, Matthew Walker and Chris Nevin - Wellington are likely to emerge as genuine contenders even if they go into today's round six points behind leaders Canterbury.

With 20 points, Canterbury hold a decided advantage but will tread warily against a Central Districts team who thumped them in the State Shield final.

Even without Craig Spearman, CD have plenty of batting with Mathew Sinclair, Jamie How, Ross Taylor, Jarrod Englefield and Peter Ingram capable of taming any attack.

Canterbury do not appear to have the same batting strength for the match at Rangiora.

Auckland, in third place but well-placed to make a charge, will have one New Zealand test opener at the top of their order for the match against Otago at Dunedin's University Oval but will be missing another.

Mark Richardson will open the innings but Lou Vincent is recovering from injury. And with Matt Horne, Tim McIntosh, Rob Nicol and Aaron Barnes included in the Auckland team, plenty of runs are likely.

Otago, with just five points from their opening five matches, face an uphill struggle as they meet Canterbury and Wellington in the last two matches.

Wellington v Northern Districts, Basin Reserve.

Wellington: Matthew Bell (capt), Richard Jones, Grant Donaldson, James Franklin, Matthew Walker, Luke Woodcock, Neal Parlane, Chris Nevin, Mark Gillespie, Ashley Turner, Iain O'Brien, Jeetan Patel.

Northern Districts: Robbie Hart (capt), James Marshall, Graeme Aldridge, Matthew Hart, Nick Horsley, Bruce Martin, Mark Orchard, Grant Robinson, Gareth West, Joseph Yovich, Ian Butler, Jaden Hatwell, Gareth Irwin.

Canterbury v Central Districts, Rangiora.

Canterbury: Chris Harris (capt), Neil Broom, Stephen Cunis, Brendon Donkers, Andrew Ellis, Peter Fulton, Chris Martin, Aaron Redmond, Paul Rugg, Gary Stead, Shanan Stewart, Paul Wiseman, Warren Wisneski.

Central Districts: Glen Sulzberger (capt), Jamie How, Peter Ingram, Mathew Sinclair, Ross Taylor, Jarrod Englefield, Bevan Griggs, Greg Todd, Lance Hamilton, Andrew Schwass, Ewen Thompson, Regan West.

Otago v Auckland, Dunedin.

Auckland: Brooke Walker (capt), Andre Adams, Aaron Barnes, Tama Canning, Heath Davis, Matt Horne, Tim McIntosh, Rob Nicol, Mark Richardson, Kerry Walmsley, Sam Whiteman, Reece Young.

Otago: Craig Cumming (capt), Muhammad Wasim, Chris Gaffaney, Rob Lawson, Marcel McKenzie, Gareth Hopkins, Jeff Wilson, Nathan McCullum, Nathan Morland, Warren McSkimming, Bradley Scott, Matt Harvie.