Canterbury wary of Auckland backlash

Canterbury coach Gary MacDonald is wary of an Auckland team stung by a first-round outright loss to defending champion Northern Districts, going into Wednesday' s first home Shell Trophy match at QE II Park's Village Green.

Auckland had a chance to claim both first innings and outright points in a low scoring contest at Hamilton, but a two-wicket loss meant the Aces gained nothing from a match in which they often held the upper hand.

MacDonald said, "I've got a feeling we may feel a little backlash from them, so we're going to have to really shore ourselves up to hold them off. We are going to have to work very hard in the first innings because Auckland are going to come at us with everything they've got. There's no doubt about that.

Canterbury also came away pointless from its first round match, away to Wellington. A flat pitch and poor weather, resulting in two whole days lost to rain, ruined any chance of a result in a match that had begun with Wellington dominating the first days play.

Despite Wellington amassing over 300 runs in a day for the loss of only four wickets MacDonald was not concerned about a lack of penetration in the Canterbury attack. 'We actually knew how flat that wicket was. Sometimes when a wicket is too flat, unless it's going to break up, you've probably got best chance of getting points batting second on it. '

MacDonald said a weather forecast predicting two days of rain and the high likelihood of the match being a one innings contest had also influenced Canterbury's decision to bowl first on a flat track.

The Village Green pitch for Wednesday's game had a green tinge to it and MacDonald expected it to have good bounce and pace early on.

"It's a good cricket wicket and usually all of the pieces of your chess board can be used. Your quicks and your batsmen and your spinners all get something out of it.

Left-arm spinner Carl Anderson, omitted from the Canterbury XI for the Wellington match, could return to the side.

"Last time we left Carl Anderson out on this wicket was the last game last year and I think it was probably the wrong thing to do. I think the QE II wicket may turn a bit later in the game and the forecast is good."

MacDonald said he was extremely wary of a very good Auckland side that had under-performed against Northern Districts. Auckland's spearhead Chris Drumm was a very dangerous bowler and Dion Nash provided experience in a very long batting line-up.

To win Canterbury will need to break a Villiage Green hoodoo. The southern side has not won a trophy game there since adopting the park as its four-day base two years ago.