Nicol and Young revive Auckland hopes

Auckland clawed their way back into a match they looked in danger of conceding on the first day of what has become effectively a three-day fifth-round State Championship after the first day was abandoned.

Canterbury did not take as much advantage as they might have of the option to bowl first on a lively portable pitch dropped in for this match on the Eden Park No 1 ground.

However, despite producing too many balls that batsmen could safely leave, Chris Martin, Warren Wisneski, Ryan Burson and Stephen Cunis had between them reduced Auckland to 105/7 in the 49th over.

The only beacon in the first half of the Auckland innings was Matt Horne's 49. It was a standout innings in difficult conditions, Martin getting lift and movement in the air and off the pitch, Burson in contrast getting the ball to stay low.

It was a Burson skidder that caught Horne in front just one run short of a deserved 50.

However, if Auckland were contemplating a continuation of their disappointing one-day form, it did not appear to be a consideration of the middle-order batsman New Zealand Under-19 player Rob Nicol and the wicket-keeper, Reece Young.

Coming together with the fall of the seventh wicket - Tama Canning for a one-shot four - they first kept the Canterbury bowlers out; then they built a partnership around leaving as much as possible, defending when necessary and punishing anything loose.

The tactic worked. In a partnership heavy on fours and threes (a slow outfield slowing the ball markedly) and short on singles, they took the Auckland total from 105 to 244/7 at the close, Young on 80 and Nicol on 58.

Martin deserved his three wickets. They cost 50 from 25 overs that included 11 maidens as Horne in particular found plenty to leave. Burson picked up two for 60 from 26. Their job in the second half of the day was made that much more difficult by the absence of Wisneski, forced from the field with a hamstring strain after taking one for 25 from eight overs.

The other major player in the match was the pitch. There was concern that it offered inconsistency in bounce and movement. However, as Nicol and Young demonstrated, it could be settling down from offering the pace bowlers something early - making it the ideal first-class pitch.

More threatening to the match was the boggy area in front of the South Stand brought on by drainage troubles and the heavy rain that followed the abandonment of the first day. To get the match started - albeit half an hour late - the boundary was moved in 11 metres. Canterbury bowlers could take some heart from the fact that Auckland was able to take little advantage of the shortened boundary.

Young and Nicol resume tomorrow with Auckland happy to be in a position that at one stage they had no right to expect.