The rain relented sufficiently to allow 81 overs to be bowled on day two of the State Championship match between Northern Districts and Auckland in Hamilton today.

Auckland had the better of the day. Their last three wickets added 60 before Andre Adams ran through the ND top order after an opening partnership of 80.

At the end of the day ND are 145/6, needing 26 more to take first-innings points.

Adams has been the player of the day. By the time he appeared in the Auckland attack, in the twentieth over of the ND innings, the openers James Marshall and Matthew Hart had settled into a comfortable groove.

The tone of the game changed at once. Hart was missed, dropped by Llorne Howell at second slip, reaching his first fifty of the season soon after. But with Adams maintaining an accurate attacking line on off stump another chance was soon offered, taken by Tim McIntosh at first slip.

Marshall played on to Adams from the last ball before tea.

Two more wickets followed after the interval. Scott Styris, the only member of the ND middle order who can claim to be in form, edged to keeper Reece Young. Mark Bailey, right out of form, was lbw pushing half forward.

Adams finished with four for 44. With 23 first-class wickets this season he is a real contender for the Black Caps one-day squad. He was attacking throughout, and bowled with sufficient pace and accuracy to make the best of the bounce and movement offered by the pitch.

Two more wickets fell to other bowlers before the end of the day, both caught behind. Hamish Marshall was obviously upset with his decision, which also surprised some of the fielders.

Debutant Grant Robinson made only eight, but survived 64 deliveries in pressurised circumstances, so should not be disappointed.

Near the end of the day a close thing drew a loud exclamation of 'My goodness!' from the Auckland slips. Perhaps the suspension of Dion Nash has led them to do some work on how to express disappointment in polite society.

Earlier, the Auckland tail wagged effectively, adding 60 for the last three wickets.

Rob Nicol showed promise with four boundaries in his 22. Tama Canning and Mark Haslam put on 27 for the last wicket, the third-highest stand of the innings.

All three Auckland wickets today fell to Ian Butler. This was just reward for a display of raw pace and intelligent bowling well beyond expectation for a 20-year-old fast bowler.

ND coach Bruce Blair was full of praise for Butler.

"He has bowled really well so far this season. He has genuine pace and has learnt that balls that used to get him wickets at age-group level won't do so in first-class cricket."

Blair said that Butler's progress was testimony to the effectiveness of development programmes within ND and nationally. Other aspects of the day's play also gave him cause for satisfaction.

"We were pleased with the good start, though we're disappointed that one or two of the batsmen didn't go on to make a big score, but one of the strengths of this team has always been an ability to bat from No 1 to No 11. We have to battle on to see what we can get out of it."

Just over 300 runs have been scored for the loss of 16 wickets. Is the pitch as challenging as these figures suggest?

"On the first day it looked a bit brown and soft, but here on the second day it has good pace, consistent bounce and is another good cricket wicket. Doug Strachan does a terrific job here."

Turf manager Strachan returned to the ground at midnight last night, staying out in the middle through heavy rain in order to minimise the delay. He has ensured that, despite the rain, there is every prospect of two more days competitive cricket left in the match.

Auckland came from behing strongly and positively today. Much will depend on ND achieving a significant lead in the first session tomorrow.

© CricInfo