Wellington, Dec 28 NZPA - Wellington moved off the bottom of the table with just their second win in five matches, recording a 22-run win over Northern Districts in their national one-day cricket match at Seddon Park in Hamilton today.

When play was finally abandoned just before 7.30pm, Wellington were looking comfortable in chasing down Northern Districts' 223 all out. At 156 for four, one ball into the 35th over when bad light and increasingly persistent rain finally halted play, Wellington were awarded the win by 22 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis system.

For Wellington, Stewart Rhodes and Michael Pollard put on 62 for the first wicket, before Rhodes became the first of Brent Arnel's two victims, dismissed on 32. Cameron Merchant was trapped in front by Bruce Martin shortly afterwards for 11, and Pollard disappeared two runs later , leaving Wellington looking a little shaky at 82 for three.

However, James Franklin (31) and Matthew Bell put on 64 for the fourth wicket, with Bell unbeaten on 40 when play finally ground to a halt.

Earlier, Northern Districts recovered well from an unimpressive start, losing the out-of-touch Daniel Flynn for seven after Dewayne Bowden found an edge and Chris Nevin took a comfortable catch with the score on 14. BJ Watling disappeared three runs later for, also caught by Nevin off Franklin, leaving Northern struggling at 17 for two.

However, Kane Williamson and Michael Parlane put together an 87-run partnership for the third wicket to put the northerners back on an even keel. But once Williamson was dismissed for 70, two runs after Parlane fell to Patel for 42, Northern lost wickets regularly and were all out with three balls remaining.

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