Bangladesh's preparation for the first Test of their New Zealand tour, only 10 days away, suffered a severe setback when the second day of their three-day match against a New Zealand District Association XI was abandoned today after only four balls

The first day of Bangladesh's New Zealand education, part of a longer learning process for the newcomers to the class of Test nations, was conducted at Victoria Park, Wanganui today in the fashion of show and tell

Wellington and Auckland took a point apiece from their State Championship match at the Basin Reserve which ended today in a rain-soaked draw

The State Championship match between Wellington and Auckland will probably become a battle for first innings points on its final day after the loss to rain of the third day today and following the abandonment of the second under drenching showers

Play was abandoned without a ball being bowled on the second day of the State Championship match between Wellington and Auckland at the Basin Reserve today, increasing the frustration of home and visiting players over a summer ruled by rain

Partnerships provide the lifeblood of any innings and in their absence, at least in the absence of any of a red-blooded nature, Wellington batted anaemicly on the first day of their State Championship match against Auckland at the Basin Reserve today

There exists in radio archives a sublime piece of Test match commentary in which John Parker recalls, with lascivious delight, the manner in which he achieved his only wicket in Test cricket - the bastard product of a non-bowler and wayward fieldsman

Cricket Wellington chief executive Ervin McSweeney has had the delight and distinction to be present, in an official capacity, at both ends of his association's long Shell Trophy drought

Wellington's latest bowling discovery, the stripling medium pacer Iain O'Brien, will travel to England in the New Zealand off-season to harden the skills which have brought him 41 wickets in this season's Shell Trophy

Wellington opener Matthew Bell, who was recalled to the New Zealand Test side today after a season's absence, believes he is much better equipped mentally to cope with the demands of international cricket than he was when he was first selected at 21,

Wellington acquired history today and rid themselves of history when, on their captain's birthday, in vindication of their coach and in renewed revelation of their unity of purpose, they took first innings points from Northern Districts at the Basin

There was a measure of Richard Jones' transformation from an Aucklander before this season to a Wellingtonian at its end in his reaction to the passing comment of a friend who dared use the dread term JAFA in his presence today

To the numberless incidents which form the tapestry of cricket history - the underarm incident and the aluminium bat incident spring to mind - there can now be added another and more unusual incident from the Shell Trophy match at the Basin Reserve

In one of those odd conjunctions of circumstance which give sport poignancy, even a certain nobility, Wellington achieved its first win in 11 years in the Shell Trophy at the Basin Reserve today on the 24th birthday of its first-season captain

When Wellington began their last gallant charge towards first innings points in their match against Northern Districts at the Basin Reserve today, with the further and larger objective in sight of overall victory in the Shell Trophy, it was both

When Chris Nevin was out for 99 in Wellington's match against Otago at the Basin Reserve a week ago, he grinned broadly, puffed thoughtfully on a cigarette and said 99 would do

Mark Richardson had a point to make when, without a backward glance, he agreed to stumps being drawn early on the final day of Otago's Shell Trophy match against Wellington at the Basin Reserve, though he was six runs from a tidy century

Richard Jones and Stephen Mather are cricketers with much in common - troubadors, both, who have travelled the country north to south searching for the best place and the chance to fully display their talents

Wellington coach Vaughn Johnson is seldom an optimist, never a pessimist but often a realist and his satisfaction with his team's position at the end of the second day of their Shell Trophy match against Otago at the Basin Reserve today suggested it

Chris Nevin and Mark Gillespie are men of such like personality, players whose approach to cricket is so similarly uncomplicated, twins in temperament and disposition, that they became ideal collaborators today when Wellington needed an answer to a