Glimpse of Twose form coincides with welcome Wellington success

Roger Twose had become increasingly conscious, even broodingly concerned, that his form for Wellington through this Shell Cup season had not been commensurate with his status as one of the best one-day batsmen in the world.

Twose wanted desperately to contribute for Wellington, consistently and well as he felt a player should who was both a professional and an international, but had been bedevilled by an unaccountable series of dismissals for low scores.

It wasn't that Twose was out of form - quite the contrary, he had a sense that he was well prepared, settled and in a frame of mind to make substantial one-day totals. But each visit to the crease seemed more brief and unproductive than the last and he had a sense that while he was ready to perform, luck was against him.

It was a coincidence, clearly, but still a point of relevance that while Twose's form lagged behind his expectations, Wellington's ability to win Cup matches was also reduced. They were unlucky to lose matches against Northern Districts at Mt Maunganui and Central Districts at Waikanae and they were gradually losing their standing in a close race for places in the Cup finals.

So there was considerable celebration in the Wellington dressing room this evening from Twose, who made 45 in an innings of typically earthy and uncomplicated style and from Wellington who took advantage of that contribution to beat Auckland by five wickets in a match vital to their Cup hopes.

Wellington dismissed Auckland for 157 in 48.1 overs after their opponents had won the toss and batted, and made 158/5 in 42.2 overs in reply to grab two points which made their failing Cup campaign more sturdy.

They still face three more matches over the next six days, against Otago and Northern Districts in Wellington and Canterbury in Christchurch, and must win each of those, and be favoured by other results, to have any chance of reaching the finals.

But their win today and Twose's contribution to it lifted the spirits of both and made the disappointing events of the recent past lose a little of their black appearance.

"We can't afford to slip up again and this win today was just the start of a big six-day run for us but it was very satisfying," Wellington coach Vaughn Johnson said.

"We were pleased with the way the bowlers set up the game for us. The channels were excellent and our ground fielding was superb. We showed lots of energy in those first 15 overs.

"It's been one of those campaigns where we haven't had the rub of the green and we've lost a couple of games that we probably should have won. But we're not looking back, we're only looking forward and we're in much better spirits after this win today.

"It was nice for us all to be able to get up today and have such a complete performance. And I'm delighted on Roger's behalf. He was thrilled to make a contribution today. We know how good he is and we were all thrilled that he got a chance to show what he could do. He told us today that he felt in good nick lately but he kept on getting out cheaply and he couldn't explain it. He just wanted to contribute but things weren't going his way. He feels a lot better this evening."

Wellington's win was set up, as Johnson suggested, by an outstanding bowling performance supported by an energetic and skillful effort in the field. Auckland would have been happy to have the chance to bat first after winning the toss but when they lost both openers, Llorne Howell and John Aiken, for 13 runs in the first six overs, their innings lost direction and it stumbled rather than galloped to an early conclusion.

Carl Bulfin, James Franklin and Andrew Penn bowled accurately in the first 15 overs to limit Auckland to 38/2, then Stephen Mather and Matthew Walker stepped in and took the heart of Auckland's middle order.

Franklin removed Howell, Bulfin took Aiken, spinner Mark Jefferson wrung out the wicket of Adam Parore, then Mather quickly contributed the wickets of Dion Nash, Blair Pocock and Tama Canning and Auckland were 109/6. At the same time, Walker bowled 10 consecutive overs for 16 runs and Auckland's innings has been robbed of its heart.

Even the few batsmen who made runs did so too slowly to help the revival of the innings. Parore lingered for 48 balls for his 18 runs, Pocock for 91 minutes for 26 and Canning for 41 balls for the same score.

Kyle Mills batted through the second half of the innings, for a total of 90 minutes, for Auckland's top score of 31 but the progress of the Auckland batting effort was always more sluggish than sprightly.

Mather finished his eight overs with 3-24 and Franklin, who bowled seven overs to take 1-19 at the top of the order, returned to claim another wicket for only two runs at the death.

Wellington, in reply, were slightly shaken by the loss of Chris Nevin for 10 when they were 11 and Matthew Bell for 15 when they were 38, both out to soft dismissals. They needed an anchor for the innings and they found it in Richard Jones who batted 135 minutes for 62 - his best Cup score for the Firebirds - and was out three overs and five runs before the end.

But Twose gave the innings the boost it needed in its middle stages when he blasted 45 from only 46 balls. His first six scoring shots were boundaries and he ended with a flourish, hitting Mark Haslam out of the ground for six before being caught and bowled, to the immense delight of the bowler, from the next ball.

His innings included eight fours - to all parts of the ground - and that six for a total of 38 runs from boundaries. Seldom has a player made a more resounding announcement of his return to form.

Spinner Haslam bowled his 10 overs and took 3-30, Chris Drum removed Bell and Nevin and had 2-26 but the Auckland bowlers always had too few runs to defend.