Cricket: Canterbury take care of Auckland

Canterbury beat Auckland by nine wickets. Photo / Getty Images

Canterbury have beaten Auckland on the third morning of their Plunket Shield cricket clash to consign the Aces to last place in the competition.

Two poor performances with the bat capped an unsuccessful season for Auckland in which they won only two of 10 games, while Canterbury's victory has seen them rise to third.

Auckland were always in trouble at Hagley Oval in Christchurch, being dismissed for 173 in their first innings before watching Canterbury pile up 302. The Aces struggles continued in their second crack with the bat, ending the second day on 110-7 and facing a large defeat.

That duly came today, with Canterbury wrapping up the visitors' tail to see them dismissed for 170. Ryan McCone and Matt McEwan took three wickets each to leave their side with a meagre target of 42.

Canterbury lost George Worker but Peter Fulton and Henry Nicholls knocked off the runs in seven overs.

The result had no effect on the final outcome of the competition, with Central Districts and Otago the only sides still in contention heading into the final round. Otago are well-placed to beat Wellington, which would leave the Stags needing to defeat Northern Districts to claim the title.

ND were on 64-1 in their second innings at lunch, trailing CD's first innings by 87 runs, leaving the fate of the competition resting with the Knights' batsmen.