Canterbury romp home as McMillan finds form in style

Struggling Black Cap Craig McMillan completed a fairytale return to form today for Canterbury in their State Shield match against Wellington.

McMillan, hopelessly out of form before today, answered his critics and should have appeased the New Zealand selectors with an unbeaten 122 off only 107 balls, to lay the foundation for his Canterbury team to complete a big victory and move to fourth place on the points table with three rounds of the State Shield remaining.

McMillan's 122 included four sixes and 13 fours. He played some superb shots all around the wicket and no Wellington bowler escaped his power and aggression. It was his fifth century in domestic one-day cricket.

McMillan praised the pitch conditions, thankful he took his chance on a wicket that was batsman friendly.

"I just wanted to be positive. I got a couple in the middle and I was away. I realised once I got in I just had to make hay."

McMillan's innings totally overshadowed Chris Nevin's century earlier in the day. Nevin had batted for all but the final three balls of the Wellington innings to score a patient 100, his third in domestic one-day cricket.

Earlier, Wellington captain Matthew Bell won the toss and chose to bat first. And with the exception of Nevin (100 off 140 balls) they struggled.

Canterbury's bowling was tight and accurate, but Wellington also failed to display any real urgency as they limped to 212 for nine off 50 overs.

The Canterbury bowling was led by left-arm spinner Carl Anderson and Chris Harris. Anderson bowled 10 overs for 36. This included 12 runs taken from his last over. Harris took four for 28 off eight overs, including three leg before wicket decisions.

With his four wickets he has now moved to fifth equal on the all-time domestic one-day wicket-taking list with Gavin Larsen on 94 wickets. As three more matches remain before the New Zealanders head to the World Cup in South Africa there must be every chance of Harris becoming only the fourth player to pass 100 wickets in the domestic competition.

Despite gaining the early wicket of Michael Papps, the Wellington attack never settled into any sort of rhythm and the Canterbury batsmen led by the belligerent McMillan took full toll.

Canterbury, who earned a bonus point with this win, host Northern Districts in Timaru on Wednesday, while Wellington, who remain top of the points table, have a lot to work on before they travel to Auckland to play the competition cellar dwellers in round eight of the Shield.