All-rounder James Franklin guided Wellington to their first Twenty20 cricket win of the season, inflicting Auckland's first defeat in the process. Franklin blasted an unbeaten 68 off 38 balls to lead the Firebirds to a seven-wicket win with nine balls to spare in the third round HRV Cup match at the Basin Reserve, chasing 158 to win.
It avenged their 10-run defeat to Auckland, the defending champions, in the opening round on December 18. Wellington needed their top-four batsmen to step up after a poor effort in the 25-run defeat to Central Districts a day earlier, when they were dismissed for 130. Without Jesse Ryder, ruled out for at least a month with a calf strain, Franklin and Zimbabwean import Brendan Taylor both did the job with key half-centuries.
Taylor, after failures in his first two innings for his new team, cracked 53 off 37 balls including 16 off a Chris Martin over to get Wellington on track. Auckland, without the injured Andre Adams who was struck in the head by a bouncer in the previous round, couldn't contain the home batsmen on a good surface.
Franklin paced his innings well, hitting five fours and three sixes, while skipper Grant Elliott was 13 not out at the end. Franklin ended the match with successive cover driven boundaries off Michael Bates. Having won the toss, Auckland's 157-9 appeared short of a par total after a solid Wellington bowling and fielding effort. Captain Gareth Hopkins led the way for the visitors, cracking 49 off 33 balls after they lost Brad Cachopa (13), Azhar Mahmood (0) and Martin Guptill (23) in the space of 15 balls. Hopkins and Anaru Kitchen (39 off 27) added 70 for the fourth wicket.
Wellington's star import Muttiah Muralidharan went wicketless, conceding 31 off his four overs, but fellow off-spinner Jeetan Patel stepped up in an accurate spell. He removed Mahmood lbw to a quicker delivery then had big-hitting Colin de Grandhomme stumped by Taylor for two. Patel ended with 2-24 before Elliott took two wickets in the final over to end with 3-16 as Auckland stalled late in their innings.