Cricket: Guptill powers Auckland to decisive win

Martin Guptill. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Martin Guptill celebrated his return to provincial duty with a classy century to guide Auckland to victory over Canterbury in a national one-day cricket match yesterday.

Guptill scored a career-best 156 off 137 balls as Auckland posted 283 for five in response to Canterbury's 282 at QEII Park in Christchurch.

They had 32 balls to spare when the winning runs were ticked off, with Guptill earning the major plaudits after taking his side to within two runs of victory before being bowled by Ryan Burson.

The 23-year-old drove immaculately and paced his innings intelligently, reaching 50 off just 43 balls with 10 fours before passing three figures for the sixth time in the domestic one-day arena off 96 balls, with 10 fours and one six to his credit.

Scott Styris accelerated the scoring rate towards the end by making 46 off 27 balls after Ravi Bopara had made 35 and Richard Jones 26.

Johann Myburgh had been the star turn of Canterbury's 282, crafting 112 off 122 balls before being run out seeking a second off the penultimate ball of the final over.

The 29-year-old struck seven fours and two sixes, raising his maiden one-day century with a two to long off in the 49th over.

After Peter Fulton chipped in with 45 at first drop, Myburgh found support from former international Craig McMillan, who contributed a robust 57 as they put on 90 for the fifth wicket.

McMillan hit five fours and two sixes off only 49 balls before being trapped leg before wicket by seamer Bopara. The English import gave up 72 runs from his 10 overs but he did have the satisfaction of removing McMillan and opener Michael Papps for 17.

OTAGO V CD Central Districts outplayed Otago in most facets to win by 59 runs in Dunedin.

They had no trouble defending their challenging total of 297 at University Oval.

Otago's pursuit looked promising when they reached 106 for two in the 23rd over but the visitors took a firm grip on the match once they turned to their slower bowlers to apply pressure.

Otago were dismissed for 238 after specialist batsmen Neil Broom, who made 34, Shaun Haig, 32, and Craig Cumming, 29, failed to convert promising starts into innings of significance.

The home side slipped to 125 for five and that left the lower-middle order with too much work to do, although Nathan McCullum and Ian Butler, who scored 43, briefly revived their hopes by adding 66 for the sixth wicket.

Once McCullum departed for 26, slapping a ball from Jacob Oram to Tim Weston at point, Otago's fate was effectively sealed.

One-day international Oram ended with the best figures of three for 48 to complete a fine individual match after he had earlier topscored with 78 as Central Districts challenged 300.

He scored his runs off just 97 balls with seven fours and two sixes and enjoyed a stand of 121 for the fourth wicket with Weston.

Central Districts got away to a flyer as openers Peter Ingram and Jamie How rushed passed 50 in the sixth over in only 21 minutes.

But the visitors briefly lost their way when these two and the dangerous Mathew Sinclair all departed in rapid succession as Central Districts went from 54 without loss to 60 for three.

Oram and Weston righted the ship, which set up some late action by Kieran Noema-Barnett, who made 34 off 20 balls, and George Worker, who finished unbeaten on 24 off 14.

Allrounder Butler picked up two wickets in the last over to end with figures of four for 45.

ND V WELLINGTONWellington moved off the bottom of the table with just their second win in five matches, recording a 22-run win over Northern Districts in Hamilton.

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 rain 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.

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, 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 Jeetan Patel for 42, Northern lost wickets regularly and were all out with three balls remaining.

- NZPA