Cricket: Canterbury revive to trump the Aces

Martin Guptill (left).

Auckland suffered their first loss of the Ford Trophy season after crashing to a comprehensive defeat yesterday against previously winless Canterbury.

The two teams came into the encounter at opposite ends of the standings but the form book counted for little as Canterbury emerged 65-run victors at Aorangi Oval in Timaru.

Big scores have been the norm in the first four rounds of the competition and yesterday's action initially looked set to follow suit, with Canterbury racking up 335-6 in their 50 overs.

The damage was done by four batsmen in two major partnerships and left Auckland with what proved an insurmountable chase.

First, opener Henry Nicholls (89) and Neil Broom (50) combined for the second wicket, putting on 103 in quick time to leave Canterbury well-placed at the halfway mark. Andrew Ellis (66no off 62) and Todd Astle (83 from 63) then took advantage of the strong base, smashing 133 for the sixth wicket to build a formidable total.

Auckland's chase got off to an awful start when the in-form Martin Guptill fell for four in the second over, and the visitors soon slumped to 78-4. The Aces' middle order failed to find any momentum and, always significantly behind the asking rate, they eventually limped to 270-9.

Elsewhere, Central Districts completed a comfortable six-wicket win over Wellington at Nelson's Saxton Oval to move into second place on the standings.

Wellington were left under par in compiling 255-8 from their 50 overs, with neither Michael Pollard (55) nor Stephen Murdoch (61) able to make the most of half-centuries as Adam Milne took 3-46 from his allotment.

Will Young (97no) and Ben Smith (75) then paced the reply as the Stags won with almost six overs to spare, ensuring Brent Arnel's four wickets went in vain.