Day five and the end of the domestic season

Well, we survived the final day and the draw lost some of its snore factor thanks to New Zealand's attempt to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Meanwhile Auckland took away the State Championship after smacking Wellington around on the outer oval at Eden Park. This was slightly surprising given that Auckland spent most of the competition with only one batsman.

The end of the domestic season gives us a chance to look at the form of individual players. The batting averages show that only two batsmen scored over 500 runs and averaged over 50 - Lou Vincent (563 at 112.60) and Peter Fulton (828 runs at 69.00). Promising players like Jamie How, Jesse Ryder, Craig Cumming, Jarrod Engelfield and Ross Taylor all had solid seasons without really setting the world on fire and their averages merely sat alongside those of reliable, older players like the Parlane brothers and Gary Stead rather than outstripping them.

The bowling averages saw a whole crop of players taking 20 or 30 wickets at an average of under 25. The problem is trying to work out which of those bowlers took their wickets through skill and pace or spin. I mean, what can we learn from the figures of the reasonably unknown Warren McSkimming (25 wickets at 22.88) when we also see that Tama Canning took 27 wickets at 23.85 with his military medium seamers? Not a lot. Two bowlers which do stand out from the masses were James Franklin (23 wickets at 14.13) and Paul Wiseman (35 wickets at 15.11).

So. Onto Wellington we go and the last match of the season. And if the forecast is right, then there might be even less than five days of cricket left before the long, dark of winter takes hold.