Wellington were given a big fright in their eight-wicket loss to Auckland in the State Max tournament at Albany's North Harbour Stadium today.

The defending champions had no answer to the firepower of the Auckland bowling attack which managed to twice embarrass Wellington.

Wellington scored only 80/8 in their first innings, one of the lower 10-over scores of the tournament. The over count told the story with six, seven, eight, six, nine, seven, 10, nine, five and 13 runs per over in their first innings.

Chris Drum, Kyle Mills, Andre Adams and Tama Canning were in outstanding touch with Adams a key figure in the game. His four overs, spread over both innings, resulted in three wickets for 24 runs while with the bat he scored 51 off 22 balls.

When Auckland replied to Wellington's poor first innings total they cashed in big-time and established a 41-run lead.

In the heyday of Max that might not have been such a big disadvantage.

But if nothing else this tournament has highlighted the lack of big-hitters on the domestic scene at the moment, especially with the CLEAR Black Caps away, because there have been a low number of Max hits.

Coupled with the lack of runs being scored off free hits after no-balls have been bowled, the Max art is being lost.

Wellington tried to lift their scoring rate in their second innings but ran back into the Auckland bowling machine and, with the deficit not being wiped out until the fifth over, Wellington was never going to be in a position to put the pressure on Auckland.

As it was Auckland were given 36 to score and they romped home in 3.3 overs to a win that may well have been much easier than they anticipated.

However, the one advantage Wellington do take into tomorrow's play is that they have had a shakedown game and a chance to get their action back on track.

Auckland, by comparison, know that a repetition of their calm and measured control of today's game tomorrow, will take them a long way towards securing the first championship up for grabs on the local domestic scene.

© CricInfo