OMEN
04-05-2006, 09:27 PM
The battle may be evenly poised, but Wellington hold the advantage in the war heading into day four of the State Championship cricket final at the Basin Reserve.
Wellington battled through yesterday, scoring 191 runs in 81 overs to finish the third day on
284-8 in reply to Central Districts' 312 all out.
While there is nothing in the match scores, Wellington are well-placed given they only need a draw from the five-day match to take the title.
Despite the slow-scoring nature of the game so far, in-form Wellington captain Matthew Bell, who hit a determined 93, said the approach yesterday was to be positive.
"We wanted to be as positive as we could be, and let our natural instincts take over. I thought Jesse (Ryder) got himself in and started to play some nice shots, and we almost took the game away from them then."
Bell and Ryder (71) threatened to put an end to what minimal interest the match had thrown up with a 127-run third-wicket partnership. But Central's tenacious bowling attack plugged away and, led by Michael Mason, took four wickets for 38 runs with the second new ball to give themselves a chance in the last two days.
"It was just unfortunate we lost our way a little there," Bell said.
"I guess it's almost even now, but hopefully, we can get at least up to their score, and then we might have a slight advantage."
Given Central must still take 12 wickets on a good batting deck, Bell was remaining confident.
"I don't see the wicket getting any lower, so if you make sure you play nice and straight you should be able to stick around for a long period of time, which a couple of batsmen have already done."
He said with Wellington missing five frontline bowlers in Mark Gillespie, Iain O'Brien, Jeetan Patel, James Franklin and Charlie Shreck, the gameplan would be similar to day one when Central bat again.
"But they (Central) will change their philosophy, too, because they've got nothing to lose with two days to go, so it could be an interesting day."
Central coach Graham Barlow rued his team's start yesterday in the face of Bell's grittiness and Ryder's free-flowing innings, but he was delighted with the fight his bowlers showed later in the day.
"We didn't start very well, we maybe tried a little bit hard."
Barlow was remaining upbeat about Central's chances of forcing an outright result, if the weather holds up.
"It's ebb and flow, and a very interesting game.
"We need to knock the last two (wickets) over, bat as quickly as we can and try and set the game up.
"It's a really good batting surface now, and we'll have to give ourselves a chance of bowling Wellington out.
"But whether we have enough time to do that just remains to be seen.
"Given that it turns, you'd settle for a day probably, but ideally we'd like a bit longer. We've done it on flatter wickets than this in four sessions, but you never know what will happen."
http://stuff.co.nz/inl/images/masthead/dominionpost.gif
Wellington battled through yesterday, scoring 191 runs in 81 overs to finish the third day on
284-8 in reply to Central Districts' 312 all out.
While there is nothing in the match scores, Wellington are well-placed given they only need a draw from the five-day match to take the title.
Despite the slow-scoring nature of the game so far, in-form Wellington captain Matthew Bell, who hit a determined 93, said the approach yesterday was to be positive.
"We wanted to be as positive as we could be, and let our natural instincts take over. I thought Jesse (Ryder) got himself in and started to play some nice shots, and we almost took the game away from them then."
Bell and Ryder (71) threatened to put an end to what minimal interest the match had thrown up with a 127-run third-wicket partnership. But Central's tenacious bowling attack plugged away and, led by Michael Mason, took four wickets for 38 runs with the second new ball to give themselves a chance in the last two days.
"It was just unfortunate we lost our way a little there," Bell said.
"I guess it's almost even now, but hopefully, we can get at least up to their score, and then we might have a slight advantage."
Given Central must still take 12 wickets on a good batting deck, Bell was remaining confident.
"I don't see the wicket getting any lower, so if you make sure you play nice and straight you should be able to stick around for a long period of time, which a couple of batsmen have already done."
He said with Wellington missing five frontline bowlers in Mark Gillespie, Iain O'Brien, Jeetan Patel, James Franklin and Charlie Shreck, the gameplan would be similar to day one when Central bat again.
"But they (Central) will change their philosophy, too, because they've got nothing to lose with two days to go, so it could be an interesting day."
Central coach Graham Barlow rued his team's start yesterday in the face of Bell's grittiness and Ryder's free-flowing innings, but he was delighted with the fight his bowlers showed later in the day.
"We didn't start very well, we maybe tried a little bit hard."
Barlow was remaining upbeat about Central's chances of forcing an outright result, if the weather holds up.
"It's ebb and flow, and a very interesting game.
"We need to knock the last two (wickets) over, bat as quickly as we can and try and set the game up.
"It's a really good batting surface now, and we'll have to give ourselves a chance of bowling Wellington out.
"But whether we have enough time to do that just remains to be seen.
"Given that it turns, you'd settle for a day probably, but ideally we'd like a bit longer. We've done it on flatter wickets than this in four sessions, but you never know what will happen."
http://stuff.co.nz/inl/images/masthead/dominionpost.gif