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A tied cricket match at Seddon Park in Hamilton last night in the Twenty20 clash between Northern Districts and Canterbury was decided by a sudden-death over, with the southerners inevitably coming up trumps.
Northern could only make six off their over, after losing Peter McGlashan on the second ball from a magnificent Shane Bond over which featured two dot balls, two singles, a wicket and a four.
Canterbury took just two balls from Trent Boult to better that - a six to Shanan Stewart off the first, a single off the second.
The result leaves Northern still winless in the competition and Canterbury four points astray of competition leaders Auckland and Otago, both on 20.
A stubborn 92-run partnership for the fifth between Hamish Marshall and Daniel Flynn set the stage for the nail-biting finish.
Chasing Canterbury's somewhat sedate 171 for eight, Northern looked all but down and out at 39 for four
That was until Marshall and Flynn came together in the sixth over, despite Flynn using BJ Watling as a runner after picking up a groin strain while fielding.
When Marshall went in the 16th over, his 49 coming off 34 balls, the total was a far more likely looking 131 and with Joseph Yovich in good touch the match teetered in Northern's favour.
Flynn fell two overs later, a brave 47 off 35 balls including four fours and three sixes.
With 14 needed from the final over, a sharp stumping by captain and wicketkeeper Kruger van Wyk off Carl Frauenstein's final ball saw the scores tied.
In Wellington, Auckland opener Martin Guptill returned to domestic cricket in style and all-but blasted the home side out of the Twenty20 competition last night.
Guptill, who has been impressive in his first matches for New Zealand this summer, whacked 43 off 21 balls to set Auckland on the way to a five-wicket win.
The hosts compiled 145 for nine and Auckland reached their target with four balls to spare.
It mirrored a low-scoring clash between the sides in Auckland on Sunday when Wellington succumbed with just one ball remaining.
Wellington now have virtually no chance of qualifying for the March 1 final with two rounds remaining.
They are two wins behind co-leaders Otago and Auckland, who both have a vastly superior net run-rate.
Guptill's knock, of which 38 came via boundaries, ensured the visitors' required run-rate was always in hand and Rob Nicol and Steven Croft saw them home with an unbeaten sixth-wicket stand of 46 off 36 balls.
Earlier, former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming found some form at last with the bat, crafting 57 off 35 balls at the top of the innings. But his teammates failed to support him, with 22 from Matthew Bell the next-best offering.
Nicol snared four for 41 and Auckland newcomer Greg Morgan bagged an impressive three for 16 off four overs.
Meanwhile, former Black Caps opener Aaron Redmond became the first centurion in this season's Twenty20 cricket competition, belting Otago to an impressive five-wicket win over Central Districts at University Oval.
Redmond's 100 off 56 balls further extended his lead as the competition's top run-scorer on 324, as Otago reached Central's 185 for six with an over to spare after Central were penalised six runs for a slow over rate.
Redmond's century included six fours and seven well-struck sixes, and further entrenched Otago's position at the top of the table alongside Auckland with five wins from six games.
Injury-plagued allrounder Jacob Oram, playing his first match since injuring his achilles tendon in the third one-day match for New Zealand against the West Indies in early January, impressed with the bat for Central.
Central were 70 for three in the 11th over when Oram came to the wicket. When he fell, to a tidy catch by wicketkeeper Derek de Boorder off the bowling of captain Craig Cumming, another 66 had been added to the Central's total.
Oram's 51 came off 27 balls, and included two fours and five massive sixes.
Recently returned Black Caps Nathan McCullum, with two for 24 off his four overs, and Ian Butler, with two for 29, were the best of the Otago bowlers.
- NZPA
