When Chris Nevin was out for 99 in Wellington's match against Otago at the Basin Reserve a week ago, he grinned broadly, puffed thoughtfully on a cigarette and said 99 would do. He was neither more nor less cheerful than he had been before.

When he held an impressive wicket-keeping record for a matter of hours today, when he completed his first stumping of the season then saw both taken from him by negotiation he did the same. He shrugged unconcernedly, dragged more deeply on the omnipresent cigarette and said tomorrow is another day.

Both could be counted days of mild misfortune for Nevin but as a man who always sees the glass half full and never half empty, he was only prepared to smile. He would always take 99 over a lesser score and wicket-keeping records, he said wanly, might all come in time.

By the end of a closely-fought first day of the Shell Trophy match between Wellington and Northern Districts at the Basin Reserve - a match which will finally decide the outcome of the competition - Northern were 247/8 and Nevin had 41 dismissals in this Trophy season.

His tally equals the record for wicket-keeping dismissals for Wellington in a season - 41 - achieved on two occasions by Ervin McSweeney, who watched over today's match between other duties as the chief executive of Cricket Wellington.

Significantly, all of Nevin's dismissals have come from catches while McSweeney's records included a significant number of stumpings.

Nevin's first stumping of this Trophy season had appeared to come his way late this afternoon when, standing back to the medium pace of Matthew Walker, he broke the wicket of Northern batsman Joseph Yovich who was out of his ground and sent him packing for 43.

It was, the scoreboard said and the demeanour of players and umpires seemed to suggest, a stumping. The wicket was attributed to Walker, who would have finished the day with 3-48 from 29 overs, and the dismissal was credited to Nevin - he had his record, 42 dismissals in a season.

But the warm glow that might have come from that record, the satisfaction at the stumping, were to be shortlived. When play concluded the umpires and scorers, the wicket-keeper and batsman were all polled equally and it was decided after careful consideration that Yovich had been run out.

The wicket was removed from Walker's analysis - he was left with 2-48 which was still a sound reward for a day of considerable effort - but Nevin found himself with only a share of his record - his name taken from the record books before the ink had dried.

Typically, the former New Zealand One-Day International was neither surprised nor concerned. He had been aware, he said, that he was getting close to a record of some kind but was not one to settle down with record books and to study at great length.

He wasn't aware of the possibility he had broken the record till he was approached after the day's play by scorer and statistician Ian Smith and then, he received the news with typical cheerfulness and aplomb. But his good cheer, his general equilibrium, was in no way disturbed when the later review of the dismissal by the umpires deprived him of his record and his stumping.

"I never thought it was a stumping to be honest," Nevin said. "I always thought he got a bit of bat on it because his bat was nowhere near his pad and it couldn't have come from anything else. And anyway, I was standing back and how many stumpings do you get standing back.

"I'm not surprised and it doesn't worry me. Tomorrow's another day and there are still two wickets to get so I may get it yet."

The fact that the record might come in the same match in which Wellington seals its first Trophy win in 11 years would only add to Nevin's personal satisfaction.

"Obviously the win comes first and that's what we're all working towards at the moment."

In that respect it was a sound first day for Wellington. Northern won the toss and batted and there was a threat in that move, on an easy batting pitch, that they might take steps towards dominating the match from the outset. Even in that light Wellington was prepared to take a risk and would have asked Northern to bat if they had won the toss.

Finally, neither side dominated. It was as hard at the end of the day to award an overwhelming points decision to either teams as it often becomes in the tainted world of heavyweight boxing. Even the individual sessions were inconclusive.

Northern were 76/3 at lunch - their top three batsmen were out and Wellington might have tentatively claimed the early advantage. Michael Parlane had gone for 33 when Northern were 46, Mark Bailey was out for three when they were 53 and James Marshall had fallen for 21 when they were 63. Of those innings, Parlane's of 55 minutes and 42 balls, punctuated by six fours, was most authorative.

The session between lunch and tea was even more painstaking and more inconclusive. Northern added 66 runs for the loss of two wickets - Hamish Marshall was out for 19 and Grant Bradburn after batting 141 minutes for 35. Northern were 142/5 at tea.

The pace of the match improved considerably in the final session - 105 runs were added but another three wickets fell.

Matthew Hart contributed more than any other batsman to Northern's innings. He batted patiently and with great skill to make 55 in 106 minutes with eight fours and to form a 78-run sixth wicket partnership with Yovich who fell in the same session for 43 - the victim of the stumping/run out which occupied paramount attention after stumps.

Their partnership lasted only 84 minutes - 134 balls - but gave more substance to Northern's total than any other.

Simon Doull played a part in accelerating the run show before stumps, adding 32 from 35 balls with five fours. He added a further 36 runs with Yovich and was out at the stumps score of 247.

That left open to question who had had the better of the day.

In the opinion of Wellington coach Vaughn Johnson, his team might have taken a small moral and psychological advantage.

But that advantage had come at a price. Iain O'Brien, the young Petone-Riverside medium pacer who has been the surprise find of this season, was left at day's end with an aching back and in need of rehabilitation. Andrew Penn was sore both in the side and the back after bowling 25 taxing over and taking 3-82.

"We're hanging on by a shoestring," Johnson said. "But that's what you'd expect after a day like today. It was a big test for the bowlers."

Walker superbly took up the slack when O'Brien was off the field and he headed after the day to a spa bath to ease away the effects of his 29 overs.

"In the last two games Matthew Walker has grown a yard. He's taken on a lot more responsibility and he's done a great job for us today."

Johnson was finally satisfied with his team's days work - with Northern 247 with only two first innings wickets left. Wellington might yet face a chase for first innings points which is not too demanding.

And if Nevin contributes either of the next two wickets, tomorrow might be a day of double celebration.

© CricInfo