The State Championship match between Wellington and Auckland will probably become a battle for first innings points on its final day after the loss to rain of the third day today and following the abandonment of the second under drenching showers.

Only one innings and the fragment of another have been completed over the past three days as Wellington has found itself trapped under an almost tropical weather pattern which has brought constant high humidity and persistent, tepid rain.

Umpires Dave Quested and Steve Dunne had little choice but to abandon play at 3.50pm on the second day as the Basin Reserve was lashed by volleys of heavy showers and less choice on Tuesday when they called an end to play shortly after lunch.

There have been only a few, momentary breaks in the rain that has swept Wellington since Sunday afternoon and its effects have been compounding. The Basin Reserve, already lushly green, has absorbed much but cannot be expected to cope with such a continuous, heavy onslaught.

Ground staff estimated today that they would need more than four hours without rain and with the help of a drying breeze to bring the playing area up to a standard which would allow play to begin. Even that would seem an optimistic estimate.

Faced with that outlook and with a forecast promising continued showers, looking out at sheeting rain riding in front of a northerly wind, the umpires ruled at an unusually early hour that the prospects for play today were negligible.

Rain is also forecast for tomorrow, though there was a slight improvement in overhead conditions as players left the ground. The weather outlook is for more of the enveloping drizzle and high temperatures Wellington has been suffering for most of the past four days.

The outlook for this match is hardly brighter. Wellington reached a moderate 238 in their first innings after winning the toss on Sunday, then batting poorly. Their captain Richard Jones and No 4 Grant Donaldson both made 52, Andrew Penn 27 not out and James Franklin 21.

Auckland were 3/0 by the close of play on Sunday. With a single day remaining and that threatened by showers, Auckland are likely to pursue the most obvious objective of first innings which would embellish handily their first round win over Central Districts.

Wellington need an outstanding bowling performance to prevent Auckland surpassing their total on what has appeared a reasonable batting pitch, though the pitch has been hidden under blue plastic covers for the past two days.

© CricInfo