Cricket: Auckland wallop ND

Northern Districts coach Grant Bradburn. Photo / Northern Advocate

Auckland cantered into next Sunday's domestic one-day final at Colin Maiden Park with a crushing eight-wicket victory over Northern Districts yesterday.

Northern still have a shot at the final. They will play Central Districts in Whangarei on Wednesday for the right to take on Auckland again after CD beat Canterbury yesterday.

Beaten by Northern midweek, Auckland made no race of it yesterday. They won the toss, put ND into bat and dismissed them for 104 in just 32.5 of the allotted 50 overs. Wicketkeeper Reece Young was 58 not out as Auckland cruised to 108 for two in 20.4 overs.

It was a superlative performance by the home team, who bowled, fielded and batted with authority on a pitch that produced 500 runs for the tie with Canterbury a week ago but was much slower yesterday.

"It wasn't ideal for a 50-over game," said Northern coach Grant Bradburn. "But that's no excuse for the way we batted. After two or three overs, we should have adjusted to it. Auckland bowled a good length for the conditions and we needed to be right forward or back."

Checked and mistimed shots produced a series of catches, which brought the best out of the Auckland fielding.

They dropped the first catch of the day at mid-on from opener Anton Devcich, but even then they took a wicket as smart thinking ran out Michael Parlane at the non-striker's end.

Catch of the day - and perhaps of the season - came from Scott Styris, who dived full-length to his left at gully to hold on to a firm nudge by Devcich.

Blame the pitch if you like, but there was also some ordinary decision-making among the batsmen. Young Kane Williamson, riding high after a series of top scores for the team, squeezed a ball from Michael Bates to the only fielder patrolling the leg side after scoring one.

The vastly experienced Hamish Marshall, who had scored 18 at a run a ball, watched Auckland captain Gareth Hopkins move himself to short mid-off and then promptly hit a catch straight to him. James Marshall fell to a similar catch close in after labouring to 25 off 65 balls.

Best of the Auckland bowlers were Bates with three for eight off six overs and Styris with three for 24 off 8.5, reminding the national selectors of his value.

There were also wickets for Lance Shaw and spinner Ronnie Hira. Length was no problem, but direction wavered with 16 wides contributing to the modest ND tally.

When Auckland batted, that pesky pitch seemed no great problem. Young and Lou Vincent put on 31 before Vincent was caught at the wicket for 19. Ravi Bopara went cheaply but Young was untroubled to achieve an early finish.

He has kept wicket while Hopkins has captained the side from the outfield and his batting position has varied according to the team selected and the conditions. An unbeaten opening half-century was a measure of his worth to the team.

Central Districts will go into Wednesday's match with ND full of confidence after running down Canterbury's 258 for eight yesterday with nearly three overs to spare.

At the heart of their chase was veteran Matthew Sinclair, whose unbeaten 105 off 94 balls was a perfectly-paced innings, helping his team overcome a rocky start and then accelerating courtesy of a late batting power play along with Brendon Diamanti.

The pair shared an unbeaten 128-run stand in 14.5 overs, with Diamanti flying to 59 off 47 balls. Both struck two sixes while Sinclair managed nine fours and Diamanti five.

Canterbury appeared to be on top as the visitors were reduced to 132 for four in the 33rd over, when Johan Myburgh snared his second victim.

Earlier, Canterbury opener Michael Papps fell short of a century of his own, reaching 93 off 114 balls in easily his team's standout innings. Papps moved to the top of the season runscorers' list, on 511 runs at 56.8.

* Additional reporting NZPA