Cricket: Title race goes to the final round

Wellington retain an outside chance of snatching the domestic title from Auckland's grasp after some fighting lower-order batting earned them a draw at the Basin Reserve yesterday.

Wellington's requirement was to bat well into the middle session to save the match and by doing so take the State Championship into the final round.

They achieved that by reaching 331 for eight at tea, a lead of 259 with 27 overs remaining in the day, though it was not without incident and one of those earned Auckland captain Brooke Walker a meeting with citing commissioner Mike Gould for dissent.

His decision is due today.

Auckland spent most of the morning pleading for leg-before decisions, but the umpires were unmoved and finally Walker snapped with a verbal spray at umpire Dave Quested.

Any penalty could not come at a worse time for them.

Walker may miss the final-round game against Northern Districts starting on Monday, a match they may need to win outright to avoid Wellington slipping past them with an outright win against Otago at Alexandra.

Auckland lead the standings by three points.

Wellington coach Vaughn Johnson lauded the lower-order batting effort, which was led by Chris Nevin who batted four hours for 68, Grant Donaldson (30), Matthew Walker (35), Mark Jefferson (30 not out) and Andrew Penn (27 not out).

Points: Auckland 34, Wellington 31, Otago 20, Central Districts 20, Northern Districts 16, Canterbury 10.

pf* Opener Jamie How scored his maiden first-class century to steer Central Districts to a comfortable eight-wicket win over Northern Districts in Hamilton.

How struck a majestic unbeaten 163 as his team claimed outright points for the second time this season in a slightly contrived finish.

Central Districts declared at their overnight score of 54 for four in reply to the home team's 392 for five.

After Northern Districts responded by forfeiting their second innings, Central cruised to the required 339 for outright victory.

Big partnerships and healthy individual scores were a feature of Central's chase, with Peter Ingram making 60 before being run out, and Craig Spearman 47.

Greg Todd was unbeaten on 61, a career-best effort, in an unbroken third-wicket partnership of 161 with How.

It was a watershed innings from How, who started the season with an average of 10.54.

Although he had already scored three half-centuries this season, yesterday's innings more than doubled his previous best score of 74.

He batted for more than five hours, hitting 26 fours and one six.

"It was a big relief to get the 100," How said. "I went through a stage when I was a bit expansive, but the most important thing was focusing on the team result and making sure we got the win."

How was assisted by arguably Northern Districts' worst bowling performance this season and an uncharacteristically friendly pitch.

It was a measure of the ineffectiveness of Northern Districts' attack that skipper Robbie Hart introduced spin after just 16 overs when openers Ian Butler and Joseph Yovich proved wayward and too short.

Left-armer Gareth West was tighter, but like the spinners who followed, produced little penetration.

In a commentary of sorts on the team's bowling efforts, James Marshall was afforded the rare honour of sharing the second new ball with his brother Hamish, and the winning runs were among the 25 that came from his 2.3 overs.

pf* Canterbury remain anchored at the foot of the table after a 10-wicket loss to Otago at Hagley Oval.

In another effort lacking character, Canterbury, who trailed by 239 runs on the first innings, folded for a second time for 258 to leave Otago needing just 20 to win the match in the second session on the last day.

Canterbury have now lost five of their last six first-class matches outright, with the game against Northern Districts a washout.

As in the first innings a number of the batsmen made starts -- eight reaching double figures on the easy-paced pitch -- but none could go on.

The only bright spot for the home side was newcomer Neil Broom's top-scoring with 63, his maiden half-century at this level.

-NZPA