Cricket: Vettori's ND coast to win

Daniel Vettori

Northern Districts are confident of having Black Cap Scott Styris and stand-in captain James Marshall back in action for Wednesday's State Shield semifinal against Canterbury in Taupo.

The pair, who have leg injuries, were rested at Eden Park yesterday, but their absence was hardly noticed in a 112-run victory against another inept Auckland one-day effort.

Northern went into the game looking for victory, and hoping that Central Districts would fall against Wellington. That would have put ND into the final.

They were hardly tested in completing the part of the deal they had control over, with Daniel Vettori leading the way with his first one-day century to set up the semifinal clash with third-placed Canterbury.

Unfortunately for Northern, Central did not come to the party and beat Wellington by 72 runs.

Auckland had some hurdles to contend with yesterday. Andre Adams is recovering from a viral problem, and their top-rated bowler, Kyle Mills, could only complete five overs because of an Achilles strain.

But they showed little enthusiasm or conviction in any department and, on a dreary day, the small crowd on the outer oval witnessed a poor contest.

Northern cruised to a 290 total, and Auckland succumbed for 178.

Once again, it was left to Mills and company further down the Auckland batting order to try to muster a reasonable total, but they were always going to fall well short.

That Auckland's No.11, Kerry Walmsley, was their second top scorer with 24 told the story.

The ND batting star was captain Vettori, who opened the innings and scored 109, beating his previous best of 89. ND promoted Vettori up the order to give him a decent chance of getting involved after his return from international duty.

Coach Bruce Blair said they would consider repeating the move against Canterbury.

Vettori's 109 came from 124 balls, including 10 boundaries. His 106-run partnership with Hamish Marshall set Northern on the victory path.

Blair said: "I was pretty impressed with Vettori's contribution coming back into the side, and his leadership. We could well use a pinch hitter again against Canterbury."

Others to shine for Northern Districts included wicketkeeper Peter McGlashan, who slammed 32 from 15 balls as Northern scored 60 off the final five overs after a rain break.

His run charge included consecutive sixes, from a hook and a pull, off Kerry Walmsley.

* Central Districts are one step away from defending their one-day title after grabbing home advantage for the final in the win against Wellington.

Central dominated the final-round match for all but five overs, where they played some atrocious cricket before refocusing with the ball and backing it up with a brilliant performance in the field.

A delighted coach Graham Barlow believed it was the first time Central Districts had finished top of the one-day standings and he seemed bullish about their prospects in Saturday's final in New Plymouth.

"We've peaked this week and today was just a continuation of that, and I think we are all feeling pretty good about the final," Barlow said.

"I was delighted with the fielding effort today and the only blemish was the dreadful collapse at the end. But when we mess it up, we tend to mess it up badly."

It was the mother of all collapses. Central Districts were cruising along at 228 for three in the 44th over but, when Mathew Sinclair was run out for 78 off 59 balls, they went on to lose seven wickets for 16 runs in 5.1 overs.

Their total of 244 looked inadequate but Wellington were not up to it, especially when captain Stephen Fleming, who made only two, failed.

Wellington spluttered through to 172, with James Franklin providing the only highlight with 63.

- additional reporting NZPA