Wellington face a struggle for first innings advantage

A tenuous equilibrium existed at the end of the first day of the vital State Championship match between Central Districts and Wellington at McLean Park today.

Central were all out for 218 in their first innings after Wellington, at considerable hazard to themselves, had won the toss and bowled. They might have been happy to have restricted Central to that score on a pitch that traditionally settles after its first day to help batsmen but some of their advantage had been worn away when they were 21/2 in reply at stumps.

Stumps were forced upon the teams nine overs before the scheduled close because of bad light although McLean Park's floodlights had been illuminated. In the descending twilight the floodlights could not gain enough purpose to break the gloom and the umpires had no choice but to call for an early close.

There was an impressive battle of wills inherent in Central's first innings between Wellington, who had been determined to bowl on winning the toss and Central were eager to defray the wisdom of that decision.

The balance of the match, in its early stages, flitted between the teams on this intriguing first day.

Central had scored 27 before the loss of their first wicket and that was a partnership just long enough and large enough to cause to ripples of concern among the Wellington brainstrust that their bold decision to field first might miscarry.

But James Franklin interceded and in a pivotal early spell chipped out Campbell Furlong for 12 and, crucially, Mathew Sinclair who seems permanently the eager understudy in New Zealand's theatre of Test cricket.

Wellington placed a higher value on Sinclair's wicket than any other. He loomed as the player who could take the match away from them on this first day and, with one of the brilliant innings of which he was capable, place the game under Central's firm control.

But Franklin had Sinclair's wicket for only four when Central were 33/2 and then the match seemed to have developed a heavy list in Wellington's favour.

It continued to go Wellington's way through the remainder of the morning session and into the afternoon. By lunch, Central were 76/5 and by drinks in the middle of the afternoon they were 103/6. Wellington might then have been engaged simply in a mopping up operation.

But first Jacob Oram, determinedly, and then Andrew Schwass and Michael Mason played the kind of defiant innings' in which Central specialises.

Till Oram, Peter Ingram's 30 had been Central's most resilient effort. Ben Smith had thrown away a good start when he was out for 21 in one of two run outs - the other removed Glen Sulzberger - which shook Central in the middle of their innings.

Oram put on 28 for the sixth wicket with Bevan Griggs, which was the first brick in a larger rebuilding effort.

He then found a partner in Schwass who was willing to counterpunch as he was and even more brutally.

They put on 46 for the seventh wicket before Oram was finally out for 50 in the 59th over. He had batted 130 minutes, faced more than 100 balls and taken 36 of his runs from fours.

Schwass and Mason, who seems to bat best in tight corners, then rattled on 64 for the eighth wicket in the most substantial partnership of the innings. They showed little deference to Wellington's bowling or Central's difficult position, attacking the bowling with equal gusto.

The partnership was broken after 14 overs when Mason was out for 32. He had batted almost an hour and struck five fours, but more importantly he had given Schwass time to form his innings.

Schwass was at the wicket almost 30 minutes longer than Mason and he took 44 runs in that time, hitting five fours and a six. Franklin had three for 24 from 15 overs, but three for 38 from 16 overs when Schwass took 14 runs from the 61st over of the innings.

Schwass was finally the last out in the 75th over and only a few minutes and a handful of overs after Mason had gone.

Franklin ended with three for 53 from 20 overs, Mark Gillespie two for 48 from the same number and Mark Jefferson, who spun out both Mason and Schwass, had two for nine.

Wellington had 25 overs to survive before stumps last night, to allow themselves to concentrate on the pursuit of a first innings lead on the game's second day. Bad light reduced that number of overs to only 16 but in that time they lost the wickets of Matthew Bell and Luke Woodcock.

Wellington's batting has not always been its strong suit this season. It has contrived to lose wickets in even brief passages of play such as today's and the loss of two wickets before stumps left the match delicately balanced.

Both batsmen were caught by Furlong, Bell off Lance Hamilton and Woodcock off Brent Hefford.

Leighton Morgan, on debut, was not out 0 at stumps.