Dion Nash and Kyle Mills scored centuries and forged a partnership, hardenedby the flames of adversity, which reshaped Auckland’s Shell Trophy matchagainst Wellington and gave it balance at the end of its third day today

Steve McMorran10-Jan-2001Dion Nash and Kyle Mills scored centuries and forged a partnership, hardenedby the flames of adversity, which reshaped Auckland’s Shell Trophy matchagainst Wellington and gave it balance at the end of its third day today.Nash has worked hard to reinvent himself as a batsman recently, as injurycontinues to curtail his effectiveness as a bowler, and his 281-minuteinnings of 100 – part of a 185-run eighth wicket stand with Mills – made aclamorous announcement of his success in that endeavour.Nor is that success confined any longer to the batting crease. Nash’s broadsmile tonight was provoked by equal elements of delight at his battingperformance, Auckland’s strengthened position and the discovery that theprognosis for his bowling is not as bleak as it recently seemed.Nash was able to turn his arm over in the nets on Tuesday night for thefirst time in a long while and he tentatively forecast last night that hewould be bowling some cautious medium pace before the Trophy season ends.Nash beamed also at the effort of his outstanding partner Mills, a darkhorse batting No 9 in the Auckland order, who reached his highest firstclass score, his maiden first class century and was 107 not out when stumpswere drawn.The pair came together at lunch, after Wellington had taken six wickets inthe morning session to have Auckland 109/7, to limit their overall lead to66 runs and to threaten to end the game by the end of this, the third day.On them in a sudden heated rush fell all the responsibility of the Aucklandinnings. If they failed, so too would Auckland and there seemed no otherpossibility than that Wellington would add an outright win to the firstinnings points they achieved on Tuesday.Nash and Mills resolved themselves to stay together as long as fortuneallowed and to do as much as resolution permitted to repair Auckland’sposition. Neither imagined that, almost four hours later when Nash was outafter having completed his fourth first class century in 281 minutes, Aucklandwould hold the upper hand in the match.Despite Nash’s fall within half an hour of stumps, when Auckland were 294and after he and Mills had come within four runs of a 62-year-old eighthwicket record for the province, the match was all but saved. Mills went onto his century in 242 minutes, from 185 balls, and Auckland was 317 atstumps, 271 runs ahead of Wellington with a day remaining.”In some ways it was a difficult wicket to get in on but when you got in itbecame easier,” Nash said. “At lunch I just said to Kyle we’ve got to get towherever we can get to. We’d just lost a lot of quick wickets – Wellingtonhad started to get some reverse swing before lunch and had nicked a coupleout – and I said we’ve just got to bat as long as we can.”Kyle’s a good young guy and so we just got our heads down and did what wecould. At the start it was just a bit of fun but we got further and furtherand we started to realise we were making a difference.”My only disappointment was that I got out before Kyle got his centurybecause I would have liked to be there with him when that happened. Butthat’s the way it goes. I think that we’re at least in the game now. They’llhave to play well to win.”Nash said he hadn’t been conscious this season of greater pressureaccumulating on him to succeed with the bat, now that he is being chosen forhis batting ability and no longer for his bowling.”More than anything I want to be part of the Auckland side and to becontributing to it as much as I can,” he said. “I’ve had a few starts thisseason and haven’t gone on and I’ve had a few failures but I’ve just keptplugging away, hoping the runs will come.”The most extraordinary feature of Mills and Nash’s partnership, more thanthe success of two players who have been styled as bowlers first, batsmensecond, was the way in which their resilient partnership altered the moraltenor of the game.When Tama Canning was out to the last ball of the morning session andAuckland had plunged from 16/1 at the resumption to 109/7, the Wellingtonbowlers and their supportive fieldsman, were cock-a-hoop, certain of theirsuperiority.But Mills and Nash began, throughout the early part of their partnership, tochip away at the mental citadel Wellington had built themselves. Gradually,brick by brick, Wellington’s massive confidence fell away.By the end of the second session, the Wellington bowling attack seemedragged, weary and frustrated. They no longer found wickets easy to come byand their body language expressed their flagging will and theirexasperation.Wellington did not bowl well throughout the second and third sessions. Whenthey couldn’t break Nash and Mills partnership, intimidate the batsmen oreasily chip them out, their effort began to falter and their will failed.Wellington coach Vaughan Johnson leapt to his bowlers’ defence and said theywere understandably tired after two hard and hot games in Wellington and inNapier. Wear and tear is beginning to leave its mark on the Wellingtonattack: Andrew Penn has torn a large flap of skin from his foot and had tohave a local anaesthetic today before he could bowl and Carl Bulfin hasdeveloped tendonitis in both knees.But Johnson admitted the Wellington bowlers faltered in their task today.”I’m disappointed with the fact we didn’t bowl at times as we should have,”Johnson said. “We dropped in intensity and that was disappointing but wehave too look at the positives and the positives were that we got into thembut we just didn’t finish them off.”I have to say I’m 100 per cent supportive of the way Nash and Mills batted.I hated it…hated every minute of it but I’d have to pat both of them onthe back for it. They were two of the best innings I’ve seen in all the timeI’ve been around first class cricket.”