With a final, deprecating bow to the weather gods who made their task so difficult, Wellington completed outright victory over Central Districts by an innings and 69 runs in their Shell Trophy match at the Basin Reserve today

Wellington knitted a collection of small and isolated fragments of play into an impressive patchwork on the third day of their Shell Trophy match against Central Districts at the Basin Reserve today

Matthew Bell, like a lighthouse on a stormy night, communicated an unambiguous message to the national selectors with his second century of the Shell Trophy season on the second day of Wellington's match against Central Districts at the Basin Reserve

James Franklin, with the exuberance of youth, and Roger Twose, with impatience which may be the by-product of experience, respectively bowled and batted Wellington to a first innings lead over Central Districts on the first day of their Shell Trophy

Geoff Allott showed tonight that while his bowling has become a limited resource, something to be rationed, it is the more precious for it as he took 4-23 to propel Canterbury to a four-wicket win over Wellington in a Shell Cup match at the

Wellington and Canterbury added another exhibit to cricket's hall of curiosities when their Shell Trophy match at the Basin Reserve, halved by rain, died meekly on its final day and with only a spasm or two before life became extinct

Wellington's frustration increased twofold when the third day of its Shell Trophy match with Canterbury at the Basin Reserve went the way of the second - abandoned today without a ball being bowled

Stephen Mather, Paul Hitchcock and Richard Petrie take the places of Jason Wells and James Franklin as Wellington transforms its Shell Trophy 12 to a Shell Cup match 13 for the day-nighter against Canterbury at the WestPac Trust Stadium on Friday

A more classic example of the frustrations which arise and the machinations which take place when a cricket match is affected by rain could hardly be imagined than that which occured at the Basin Reserve today when the second day of the Shell Trophy

It's said whom the God's would destroy they first call promising

When Matthew Bell accepted the Wellington captaincy this season in a caretaking, then in a fulltime capacity there were concerns, widely voiced, that the supplementary responsibility would damage his personal form

At 20 and poised on the threshold of his first extensive first-class and one-day season, Wellington off-spinner Jeetan Patel manifests many of the quirks which flood the personalities older, more time-worn bowlers

The selection of transplanted Auckland batsman Richard Jones and Academy graduate Jeetan Patel among a young bowling lineup are features of the Wellington Shell Trophy squad announced tonight by coach Vaughn Johnson

New South Wales handed Wellington a cautionary, if exemplary, lesson a week from the start of their Shell Trophy campaign when they won a scheduled 50-over day-night match by seven wickets and within 25 overs at the WestpacTrust Stadium

Chris Nevin and James Franklin make an odd couple - the former short, stocky and with a batting approach which mixes urgency and pugnacity; the other tall, more languid and more fluent, an easy shot-maker