A half-century from Sachin Variath and four wickets from Brett Randell helped the Auckland Under 18’s beat Northern Districts by five wickets at Weymouth Oval, Manurewa.
In the nearest neighbour fixture, Northern made 182 for seven after being put into bat with Auckland reaching 183 for five in the 46th over.
Captain Cameron Gibbons got his team off to a solid start with 49 but received little support from the rest of the Northern line up.
Randell lead the Auckland pace bowling attack with four for 25 off ten overs, including the wicket of the dangerous Gibbons.
The reply never looked in doubt for Auckland despite losing opener Ben Horne early. Variath anchored the innings with a patient 64 not out while Marc Chapman (25), Robert O'Donnell (25) and David Winn (26) all made useful contributions.
The teams now head to Lincoln for the remainder of the National Under 18 tournament starting 18 January 2012.
