Auckland, Northern and Otago pick up wins
Auckland narrowed the gap to three points between themselves and leaders Wellington in the Provincial A tournament at the New Zealand High Performance Centre in Lincoln.
Auckland cemented their second place position on day five by beating Wellington by six wickets. The win gives the defending champions four more rounds to elevate into first-place, with their Twenty20 encounter against Wellington on the penultimate day building up to be a crucial match.
Also keeping their slim hopes alive was Otago, who convincingly defeated Central Districts by 73 runs. In the other match Northern Districts picked up their second win of the tournament with a four wicket triumph over hosts Canterbury.
There were no centuries today, although a number of players went close. Otago’s Iain Robertson fell four short on 96, while Auckland’s young star Cameron Fletcher made 95.
Rajiv Sharma was once again a force with the ball today, taking figures of five for 51 from ten overs to claim his second five wicket bag of the tournament. The other performance of note with the ball came from Northern’s Joe Walker who claimed a fiver himself in his 9.3 overs for 44 runs.
Tomorrow sees the last round of One Day matches before the tournament heads into three rounds of the Twenty20 format.
Points table:
Wellington - 15
Auckland - 12
Otago - 9
Northern Districts - 8
Canterbury - 4
Central Districts - 4
