Wellington faces tough contest to retain Max title

Around a decade ago the North Shore of Auckland was looking to set itself up as the seventh first-class association in New Zealand's cricket structure.

The population growth of the region was seen as deserving of first-class status. However, despite the best efforts of administrators of the era it did not eventuate.

But tomorrow, top class domestic cricket arrives on the North Shore with the staging of the 2001 State Max series.

The venue is the North Harbour Stadium at Albany where the cricket facilities behind the main ground are being used for the first time.

It promises to be a gala occasion for cricket on the North Shore.

It is a one-off occasion for Max this year, as opposed to the five games played between the three groups of near neighbours before a final series was played at Eden Park Outer Oval last year.

As a result of that competition, State Wellington, the defending Max champion, and State Auckland, have been given automatic semi-final status. The winner of their game on Saturday afternoon will automatically qualify for Sunday afternoon's final.

Wellington, as defending champion, faces an interesting tournament. A key factor in its success last year was the batting of international Roger Twose. Now retired, Twose is not available to the side, nor is captain Matthew Bell.

Richard Jones has the leadership of the side in Auckland while former New Zealand one-day player Richard Petrie remains a key player with his potential hard-hitting.

Auckland has greater bowling resources than last year, with Kyle Mills, Chris Drum amd Andre Adams having had international exposure since last year and Richard Morgan and Tane Topia having had much more cricket. Their preliminary match is shaping as a superb contest.

State Canterbury is looking to pick up some lost lustre from last season and with Chris Harris calling the shots as skipper some interesting play looks in prospect. Canterbury plays the opening game of the tournament tomorrow at 10am against State Central Districts.

CD, as the defending one-day champion, will be looking to make an impact with its bowling attack especially. There is no doubt this combination has a lot of appeal. Brent Hefford, Michael Mason, Ewen Thompson, Andrew Schwass and Gareth West represent a formidable unit. However, if they do manage to go all the way, they face a tough programme as the second finalist wills be decided on Sunday morning.

State Northern Districts play tomorrow's second game, starting at 2pm against Otago. More than most teams, the ND side is a mixture of young and old. Stalwarts like Simon Doull, Scott Styris, Grant Bradburn, Mark Bailey, captain Robbie Hart, Matthew Hart, James and Hamish Marshall and Joseph Yovich are being joined by new players like Graham Aldridge, Simon Andrews, Ian Butler, and Jaden Hatwell.

They are up against a State Otago side also going through the changes and they will rely heavily on the hard-hitting Andrew Hore, who has the potential to tear a game apart on his own, Chris Gaffaney, Craig Cumming, Kerry Walmsley and the returning Evan Marshall.

As a scene-setter for the rest of the domestic summer, the Max is not necessarily a litmus test, but it does provide an increasingly novel way to gain a first look at players and an assessment of their prospects for the season.

The fact it is at a new venue adds to the occasion.

Ces Renwick, the grounds officer for the Auckland Cricket Association, said the pitch at the stadium, which was laid in May, was made of new soil and was as hard as concrete.

"We have been very, very lucky. The moisture readings are very good, and we've had no problems whatsoever," he said.

Fine weather today ensured conditions would be good for tomorrow's first day of matches.

The outfield is a sand carpet base and while the pitch is Patamahoe soil, it is from a different area than where the Patamahoe soil used in other pitches has come from.

It is of a slightly different colour and is a much harder clay.