Otago, Wellington and Central record victories
Defending champions Auckland were beaten by Central Districts in the first round of the Provincial A tournament at the New Zealand Cricket High Performance Centre in Lincoln. Having come sixth last year, Central now hold a three-way tie for the lead having completed the convincing seven wicket victory on day one.
They’re joined by Otago, who sparked an amazing comeback to beat Northern Districts by one wicket in a thrilling encounter, and Wellington whose opening batsmen batted superbly to see off Canterbury by 49 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis system.
The start of play was delayed, shortening all of the matches by a few overs. The games though were played under fine conditions from that point on, with some good individual performances shining through.
Wellington’s Ben Orton scored the only century of the day and finished unbeaten on 105 off 115 balls. With Josh Brodie (95), he put on 202 for the opening wicket to guarantee his side the points.
Central’s Andrew Lamb was the only bowler to take a four wicket-bag and ended the day with figures of four for 22 from 7.1 overs.
Round two:
Auckland v Northern Districts
Central Districts v Wellington
Canterbury v Otago
Points:
Wellington - 4
Central Districts - 4
Otago - 4
Northern Districts - 0
Auckland - 0
Canterbury - 0
