Northerns Districts powered to an eight-wicket win over Canterbury in a domestic Twenty20 cricket match at Hamilton tonight.

Mark Gillespie's long awaited return from injury has been delayed once more.

Daniel Vettori will not appear for ND in the HRV Cup as he rests a sore back ahead of the home series against Pakistan.

Wellington power house hitter Jesse Ryder is set to return to action this weekend.

Auckland have refrained from making changes to their Twenty20 cricket side who were heavily beaten by Northern in their last match.

Wellington's fixation with overseas signings for the domestic Twenty20 cricket competition shows no signs of abating.

Australian David Hussey's flyby cricket paid off for Northern Districts as they trounced hosts Auckland yesterday.

Defending champions Central Districts cruised to victory in the HRV Cup opener, thrashing Northern in Hamilton.

Auckland are leaving no option unexplored for the start of the domestic T20 competition this week.

Auckland have a new cricket captain with Andrew de Boorder set to take the reins for their third-round Plunket Shield four-day match.