Otago take first day honours on tricky pitch

Otago could be well pleased with the way they handled the first day of their Shell Trophy match against Auckland today for they seldom play to their best on the foreign field that is the outer Eden Park field with its pitch of variable quality.

This time Otago gained most advantage of the lively pitch as they dismissed Auckland for only 157 in 79 overs, and then scored 77 for three wickets.

But Otago must have wondered whether they actually bowled well on the pitch which heavily favoured the faster seam bowlers, or whether they should have smashed the Auckland first innings into little pieces.

Obviously overjoyed that their skipper Matt Horne had won the toss and put Auckland in to bat on a greenish pitch, the Otago seamers David Sewell, James McMillan, Karl O'Dowda and Craig Pryor reacted like a lot of super-charged schoolboys just starting their holidays.

With heaps of energy they banged the ball into the pitch and waited for the new ball and the spicy pitch to do all the work.

This emphasis on energy rather than accuracy made life awkward for the Auckland batsmen, but did not put their wickets in consistent danger.

Instead the Aucklanders spent much of their time ducking and dodging the short-pitched fliers, or watching the ball swerve wide down both sides of the pitch.

The Auckland oepeners Tim McIntosh and Blair Pocock did become the first and second of the five lbw victims of the day when David Sewell and Karl O'Dowda did get the ball on target.

But then John Aiken and Richard King were able to battle through to lunch at 65 for two wickets, when Otago might have expected a fouror five-wicket haul. O'Dowda winkled out Aiken at 83, but King looked capable of foiling the erratic Otago bowlers, and leading Auckland to a half-respectable score.

Then came the critical moment -- the arrival at the crease of Paul Wiseman, the New Zealand off-spinner in the 52nd over.

Wiseman was checking the test-worthiness of his damaged ankle and did not make much use of some gentle spin and a useful bounce. But he did tie down one end, the Auckland batsmen could not relax, and frustration set in.

So from 115 for three Wiseman took two wickets, as did Craig Pryor, and Auckland were close to the rocks at 124 for seven. Dion Nash offered some resistance, but this time Otago did not let the Auckland batsmen off the hook.

Wiseman finished with two cheap wickets and 14 overs that showed he should be fit for the first test in December.

Pryor would have tasken special delight in his best first-class bag of four wickerts for 44 from 21 overs, for he was playing against a side that had not made much use of his talents over the last three or four years, leading him to become another Aucklander looking for the cricketing pot of gold in Dunedin.

Chris Gaffaney steadied the Otago innings after Matt Horne and Andrew Hore were out at 19, and if he can survive the start tomorrow when the pitch will have some early-morning spite he could be the man to put Otago in an even stronger position.