Shield final offers different incentives to each side

Canterbury sustained a late and heavy blow on the eve of their State Shield final against Wellington at the Basin Reserve when former international medium pace Warren Wisneski was forced to quit their match squad with injury.

Wisneski, a hard-working and aggressive medium pacer who would have played an important role on what might be a dry track for quicks, missed Canterbury's semi-final against Northern Districts in Hamilton on Wednesday with a groin strain.

Manager Grant McWhirter said today Wisneski had not recovered sufficiently to be considered for the final, which begins at the Basin Reserve at 10am tomorrow. His place is taken by Marcel McKenzie.

Wellington have been able to name an unchanged 13 and are without injury concerns in the lead-up to the match. They played their last round-robin match against Auckland last Friday and are reported fresh and enthusiastic as the final approaches.

Wellington have not won the national one-day title since 1991 when they were captained by Ervin McSweeney who has gone on to become the association's chief executive. Many of the intervening years were lean ones.

But Wellington broke their title drought emphatically last season when, under a new coach Vaughn Johnson and captain Matthew Bell, they won the Shell Trophy title and the Shell Super Max competition for the second time. They will be bidding on Saturday to hold all three of New Zealand's major domestic cricket titles simultaneously.

There was delight in Wellington circles when it was learned after Wednesday's close-fought match in Hamilton that Canterbury would be Wellington's finals opponents. Canterbury were the only team to defeat Wellington in 10 matches in the round-robin stages of the State Shield competition and they did so, comfortably, at the Basin Reserve three weeks ago.

The Wellington players believe it would be appropriate to conclude the one-day series with a win over Canterbury, to repair that deficiency in their record and to finish the season emphatically as New Zealand's best one-day side.

Coach Johnson has no doubt that Canterbury will be the most difficult of Wellington's potential finals opponents but wants to see his team avenge their recent loss and prove their worthiness for the title.

Wellington have a fresh and unshakeable confidence in themselves this season. As a one-day unit, all aspects of their combination are firing.

They have a useful new ball attack with first-season medium pacer Ash Turner beginning to find his feet in Shield play. Turner bowled superbly in combination with Andrew Penn when Wellington sealed it's place with a heavy win over Auckland seven days ago.

They have, in Matthew Walker and Paul Hitchcock, two of the most niggardly and effective bowlers at the death that the competition has seen this season. Hitchcock, a largely unheralded player of enormous potential, is at the top of the Shield bowling averages this season with 21 wickets at an average of 13.8.

Walker, an all-rounder his coach and team-mates believe will play for New Zealand, has 14 wickets at 17.07 and at the best economy rate among the competition's leading bowlers, 3.34 per over. He has, in addition, 160 runs at an average of 32.

Walker forms part of an extremely effective Wellington middle-order - a stronger middle-order than most of their opponents can claim. With David Sales and Grant Donaldson he has provided the strength of many Wellington innings this season.

Wellington will lean on Chris Nevin to give their innings a strong beginning on Saturday. Nevin is near the top of the Shield batting averages with 330 runs at 41.25 but that averages depends strongly on his 111 against Auckland on the pitch on which Saturday's match will be played.

Nevin's form recently has been less impressive and Wellington will be hoping he can regain his touch to give their innings early impetus.

They will look to captain Bell for a long innings and to Richard Jones and Sales for pacing and leadership. Sales struggled early in the season but has played two crucial knocks in recent matches, against Otago and Auckland.

His 60 when opening the batting against Auckland contributed hugely to Wellington's which sealed a home final and he is likely to open again on Saturday.

Canterbury are the team who match Wellington most closely. They, too, have a varied and competent attack, sound openers and a deep middle order.

Captain Gary Stead is near the top of the Shield batting averages, averaging more than 43 before Wednesday's semi-final.

Wellington have a high regard for Stead, for young spinner Carl Anderson, for wicket-keeper Gareth Hopkins, for new batsman Peter Fulton and for all-rounder Aaron Redmond, among others.

The match will be played on the pitch used for the Boxing Day Test against Bangladesh and the Shield match against Auckland in which almost 600 runs were scored.

Club cricket in Wellington has been held over till Sunday to boost crowd numbers and fine weather is forecast.

Teams:

Wellington: Matthew Bell (captain), Chris Nevin, Richard Jones, David Sales, Grant Donaldson, Matthew Walker, Mark Jefferson, Andrew Penn, Mayu Pasupati, Jeetan Patel, Paul Hitchcock, Mark Gillespie, Ash Turner.

Canterbury: Gary Stead (captain), Shanan Stewart, Paul Wiseman, Peter Fulton, Aaron Redmond, Darron Reekers, Gareth Hopkins, Cleighten Cornelius, Carl Anderson, Stephen Cunis, Chris Martin, Marcel McKenzie, Ryan Burson.