Wellington captain Matthew Bell's stated aim of scoring more than 1000 runs in Shell Trophy cricket this year is halfway to fruition at the midway stage of the competition.

The much-needed extension of the first-class programme to two rounds of Trophy play has been welcomed and has already lent a different air to the domestic scene this summer.

It has also allowed players like Bell, who need the performance base provided by an extended competition to resurrect their international careers, with an outstanding opportunity to bat to their heart's content during the summer.

So far he's scored 591 runs at an average of 73.87 in his eight innings to date.

He's already equalled one of Wellington's provincial cricket records by scoring four centuries. That's as many as Robert Vance scored in the 1988/89 season which preceded his call-up to international duty.

Vance also holds the record for most runs in a representative season by a Wellington player with his 888 runs at 80.72.

That leaves another 298 runs to claim the record.

However, the leading run scorer to date this season has been the Leicestershire batsman Ben Smith who is doing his thing for Central Districts (CD). He has a much tougher job to best the CD record.

That is 1348 held by Martin Crowe from the summer of 1986/87 at the average of 103.69. Crowe's total is the national record for most runs in a season for any of the province's.

Should Bell go on and achieve his goal of 1000 runs he will be in select company.

Apart from Crowe, the only other batsmen to achieve the mark are: Graeme Hick (1228), Jeff Crowe (1063) and Glenn Turner (1027).

The top 10 scorers for province's are:

                                   Runs     Ave     Season
Martin Crowe (Central Districts)   1348   103.69   1986/87
Graeme Hick (Northern Districts)   1228    94.46   1988/89
Jeff Crowe (Auckland)              1063    62.52   1991/92
Glenn Turner (Otago)               1027    85.58   1975/76
Matthew Maynard (ND)                893    68.69   1991/92
Robert Vance (Wellington)           888    80.72   1988/89
Graeme Hick (ND)                    827    63.61   1987/88
Craig McMillan (Canterbury)         809    73.54   1996/97
John Wright (Canterbury)            780    60.00   1986/87
Martin Crowe (Auckland)             763    52.57   1982/83