Cricket: Test stars back to bolster Auckland

Having New Zealand in ODI action at the moment has had a good spinoff for Auckland in their 50-over campaign.

Opening batsman Tim McIntosh, seamer Chris Martin and fellow new-ball bowler Daryl Tuffey return to the Auckland 12 for today's trip to play Central Districts at New Plymouth.

Test pair McIntosh and Martin are not required for ODI service, while Tuffey, a fringe one-day candidate, is also not in the World Cup squad, who are playing the series against Pakistan.

The trio replace opener Jeet Raval, left arm seamer Michael Bates and spinner Bhupinder Singh from the squad who lost to Otago by two wickets at Oamaru last weekend.

That was an ordinary day for Auckland. They were 128 for seven before spinner Ronnie Hira and Colin de Grandhomme put some starch into an innings which ended at 199 with 7.3 overs left unbowled.

Otago reached the target with a couple of overs to spare and now top the table, ahead of their trip to Whangarei to play Northern Districts today. The Oamaru result ended a run of three games but making the semifinals is comfortably within Auckland's grasp.

"I guess that loss highlights some things that we need to be mindful of in our preparation for this game," said Auckland coach Paul Strang.

"Building partnerships, which had been our real strength, let us down against Otago. That's as much a mental thing as anything else so I'm sure we'll get it right this time around."

Batsmen usually enjoy Pukekura Park with its 9-iron-sized boundaries; bowlers know they can go for plenty, without necessarily bowling that badly.

"It's a ground with a fine margin of error often when you're bowling, and can be quite deceptive as a batsman as well. But we've played here often enough to know what to expect," Strang added.

ND have retained the same 12 from their washout against Canterbury last Sunday.

Wellington host Canterbury in the other game. The main news out of the capital, however, is the retirement of former test opener Matthew Bell, after a niggling run of injuries.

Bell, 33, steps away after 17 first-class seasons during which he scored 24 first-class hundreds, including a provincial record 20 for Wellington. He is in an elite group of New Zealand cricketers to have hit the winning runs in a test at Lord's.

He averaged 35.93 from 171 first-class games. Bell played 17 tests, averaging 24.3 with two centuries, and seven ODIs for New Zealand.

Bell was ND's youngest representative when he made his debut at 17 in 1993-94. Only Mathew Sinclair's 21 first-class tons for CD can better Bell's record with Wellington as leading centurymakers for one province. Bell hit three double centuries for Wellington and is the only New Zealand batsman to make 1000 first-class runs in a season twice.

Points after five rounds: Otago 14, Canterbury, Auckland and ND 12, Wellington and CD 6.

NATIONAL ONE DAY COMPETITION

Sixth round, all start 11am today

Central Districts v Auckland (Pukekura Park)

CD: Kruger van Wyk (c), George Worker, Peter Ingram, Brad Patton, Mathew Sinclair, Tim Weston, Doug Bracewell, Kieran Noema-Barnett, Tarun Nethula, Adam Milne, Michael Mason, Mitchell McClenaghan.

Auckland: Gareth Hopkins (c), Tim McIntosh, Lou Vincent, Anaru Kitchen, Greg Todd, Colin de Grandhomme, Colin Munro, Daryl Tuffey, Kyle Mills, Andre Adams, Ronnie Hira, Chris Martin.

Wellington v Canterbury

(Basin Reserve)

Wellington: Grant Elliott (c), Stewart Rhodes, Cam Merchant, Neal Parlane, Luke Woodcock, Harry Boam, Marc Calkin, Joe Austin-Smellie, Jeetan Patel, Dewayne Bowden, Andy McKay, Mark Gillespie.

Canterbury: Peter Fulton (c), Michael Papps, Rob Nicol, Shanan Stewart, Dean Brownlie, Reece Young, Andrew Ellis, Carl Frauenstein, Todd Astle, Marty Kain, Mitchell Claydon, Richard Sherlock.

Northern Districts v Otago

(Cobham Oval, Whangarei)

ND: James Marshall (c), Brad Wilson, BJ Watling, Kane Williamson, Anton Devcich, Joey Yovich, Peter McGlashan, Bradley Scott, Trent Boult, Jason Donnelly, Brent Arnel, Graeme Aldridge.

Otago: Craig Cumming (c), Aaron Redmond, Michael Bracewell, Neil Broom, Darren Stevens, Darren Broom, Ian Butler, Derek de Boorder, Neil Wagner, Nick Beard, Craig Smith, Warren McSkimming.