Allott propels Canterbury to victory with top order demolition

Geoff Allott showed tonight that while his bowling has become a limited resource, something to be rationed, it is the more precious for it as he took 4-23 to propel Canterbury to a four-wicket win over Wellington in a Shell Cup match at the WestpacTrust Stadium.

Allott operated in three short spells in the heart of Wellington's innings, taking the wickets of internationals Chris Nevin and Roger Twose, those of Stephen Mather and Richard Petrie to restrict Wellington to 184 as they batted first after winning the toss.

Though Canterbury's chase for victory seemed leg-weary at times - their middle order perhaps lulled by the diminutive nature of the target - they finally struck off the winning runs with four wickets standing and a handy 10 balls to spare.

Allott's opening spell of five overs was his most destructive and most influential on the game's outcome. Though his first over cost nine runs and his second six, he returned with vigour to claim Mather for nine, Nevin for 50 and Twose for the eight - all in the space of 15 runs - to set Wellington on a downward spiral.

He rested briefly the returned to bowl two consecutive maidens and to snare Petrie's wicket with a screaming yorker, leaving Wellington 91-6 at the start of the 26th over. By the end of his seventh over, Allott had 4-17 and he ended with an analysis of 4-23 from 10 overs - his best in 25 Cup matches.

Wellington's innings was once again brightest at its beginning, with Nevin imposing a galloping tempo. He was only eight when his opening partner, Richard Jones, was out for 2 but he was 43 when Allott provoked a self-destructive shot from Mather which cost his wicket and had Wellington 58-2.

Nevin went on to 50 from 52 balls but couldn't add to that score before he was out, caught in the gully while driving at Allott, eight balls later in the 16th over. Then Twose followed for eight when only one more run had been added and Wellington were 73-4, their innings showing signs of a rapid decay.

There followed wickets at 89, 91, 108 and finally 120 and Wellington had lost sight of any kind of substantial, demanding total. Matthew Bell, their captain, tried to hold together the fraying ends of the innings and found an unusual partner in that enterprise in No 10 Carl Bulfin, who joined hin in a 57 run stand for the ninth wicket.

Bulfin didn't react to Wellington's batting crisis as he might have done, with circumspection. Instead, he took the attack to Canterbury, hitting four sixes - two in succession from Mark Hastings in the 45th - to reach 44 from only 37 balls before being run out. His defiant stand with Bell occupied only 40 minutes and he provided all but 13 of those runs.

Bell ran out of partners - he batted from the 16th till the 49th overs - when Jeetan Patel was out for four with an over and a ball remaining.

Canterbury's chase progressed at a pace very similar to Wellington's though they were shaken by the loss of three wickets in the first 10 overs and while they had only 50 runs to their name. They were 53-3 after 10 overs, where Wellington had been 48-1, and 71-3 after 15 overs, where Wellington had been 71-2.

But their innings meandered through the middle stages as they fell prey to a contagious lack of urgency. Gary Stead faced 43 balls for 26 runs, Chris Harris 82 balls for 39 and Michael Papps 38 balls for 12 runs. They slumped to 138-6.

Canterbury's mindset was understandable - they believed if they kept wickets in hand the runs would come but that policy, like any policy taken to extremes, almost became as reckless as its opposite course.

Finally Warren Wisneski and Aaron Redmond saw them to their winning target , achieved when Wisneski struck Mark Jefferson for four from the second ball of the 49th over. They had needed 40 from the last 10 overs and there may have been alarms when Matthew Walker discharged his 10 overs for only 24 runs, bowling three consecutive maidens, between the 18th and 40th overs, but eventually Wellington's total was shown to be as flimsy as it had first seemed.

This did not at its outset seem likely to be a match of milestones, of ringing achievements but it was eventually Allott's performance, completed before the floodlights took effect, that rose above the commonplace.

He may never play again unburdened by injury but he showed tonight that, treated with sense and delicacy, he can still be a potent force.