Abandoned match means no practice for ODI five

Auckland and Canterbury between them prepared to send five members of the New Zealand one-day squad out on to Eden Park in a sixth round Shell Cup match today to give them the opportunity to make the transition from test mode.

However, Auckland weather had other ideas. Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan and Chris Martin (Canterbury) and Adam Parore and Brooke Walker (Auckland) along with the rest of their respective teams managed no more than some early warm-up exercises before pesky showers swept regularly across the ground.

For the players and the 20-or-so hardy spectators, waiting was made even more frustrating by intermittent periods of sunshine. Even as the 2.10 pm announcement that the match had been abandoned was broadcast to the "crowd," the ground looked a picture with the sun reflecting off the water-splattered shiny blue covers.

It all means that the international players missed out on some necessary practice and Auckland and Canterbury moved on to the next Shell Cup round on January 12 with seven and four points respectively.