http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wellington-c864 defeat Auckland by 125 runs in Plunket Shield
Wellington overcame Auckland by 125 runs in their Plunket Shield match at the Colin Maiden Park in Auckland on Thursday. Chasing 270 runs for victory, the home team was all-out for 144 in their second innings on the final day of play.
Earlier, Gareth Hopkins won the toss for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Auckland-c766 and elected to field first. There was a lot of cloud cover, which forced Hopkins to bowl first. However, the visitors responded well to the conditions in their first innings.
Wellington opener Stephen Murdoch gave his team a good start after the hosts picked up a couple of quick wickets. He batted sensibly and scored 63 runs for his team. However, he couldn’t have done it without the support of his captain Grant Elliot, who was
the innings top scorer with 65 runs.
A solid effort from the top order players helped the team to reach a total of 258 in their first innings, but they were troubled by seasoned fast bowler Chris Martin. The veteran took five wickets in the innings.
In reply, the hosts didn’t manage to get going, as they lost wickets at regular intervals. Opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Jeet-Raval-c1685 was the top scorer in Auckland’s innings. He managed only 33 runs in his innings. A few other batsmen got starts, but none was able to convert them
into a big innings. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bradley-Cachopa-c48278 scored 31 runs whereas; captain Hopkins added 20 runs to the total before declaring the innings at 151 for eight.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mark-Gillespie-c1904 and Andy McKay bowled well for the visitors, as they took two wickets in the innings.
None of the Wellington batsmen managed to stay at the crease for too long in their second innings, as the team was bundled-out for 162 runs. However, their first innings lead of 107 runs gave them an overall lead of 269 runs.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Cameron-Merchant-c1216 was the top scorer for Wellington in the second innings, scoring 36 runs. Apart from him, Stewart Rhodes and Elliot chipped in with 28 runs each. Chris Martin was yet again superb with the ball for the hosts, as he grabbed four wickets in
the second innings. However, Bruce Martin was phenomenal, as he picked up five wickets in the innings.
Auckland failed to get off to a good start and their middle-order also found it difficult to score runs in bowler friendly conditions. Cachopa top scored the innings with 33 runs whereas; http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Michael-Bates-c1948 was unbeaten on 32 until he ran out of partners at the
other end.
Gillespie and McKay proved to be devastating for the Auckland batsmen, as they took four and three wickets respectively to bowl the home team out for just 144 runs.
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