The Wellington Firebirds cruised into the final of the Ford Trophy today after upsetting the Canterbury Wizards by eight wickets in their preliminary final at Hagley Oval.
The Firebirds, who finished fourth in the regular season, lost just two wickets as they chased down Canterbury's total of 239 in 46overs and will now meet the Northern Knights in the final at Mt Maunganui on Saturday.
After losing the toss, Canterbury were sent into bat and Black Caps opener Tom Latham (48) and Brad Cachopa (39) lead the way with a first wicket partnership of 66. But the Wizards quickly stumbled from 100-1 to 125-6 as the middle order of Rob Nicol, Dean Brownlie, Peter Fulton and Henry Nichols fell for a combined total of just 21 runs.
Andrew Ellis (81) and Todd Astle (38) then helped steady the ship with a sixth wicket partnership of 85 which allowed for a late hit-out, resulting in 11, 10, 14, 18 and 13 runs coming off the final five overs.
Luke Woodcock was the pick of the Wellington bowlers and at one stage had the impressive figures of 3-5 from his first three overs. He finished with 3-26 from 10 while Jeetan Patel and Grant Elliott both took two wickets apiece.
The Firebirds' top four rarely looked troubled by the Wizards' bowling attack with openers Michael Pollard (70) and Michael Papps (32) laying the foundation before Stephen Murdoch (80) and James Franklin (53) both finished the job unbeaten.
Wellington worked hard to overcome the batting wobbles which plagued their last two matches - both against Auckland - and now have the chance to break a 10-year title drought if they can beat the Knights in the final on Saturday.
