Plunket Shield cricket leaders the Central Stags find themselves in a scrap midway through the ninth round of the first-class competition against the Wellington Firebirds.
After two days Wellington are in a good position to press on for a minimum of first innings points after opener Stephen Murdoch guided them to 180 for three in their first innings at the Basin Reserve in the capital.
Four points behind Central heading into the penultimate round, Wellington remain 157 runs short of Central's 337, their first target before a likely declaration as both sides position the match to provide outright points for the victors.
Murdoch formed the cornerstone of Wellington's effort with the bat today as he closed in on his second century of the summer, occupying the crease for 273 minutes and striking nine fours to reach stumps unbeaten on 88 after Central lost their last six first innings wickets for the addition of 111 runs this morning.
Allrounder Harry Boam did the trick for Wellington once play resumed, snaring three wickets, including that of opener Peter Ingram for 135, to finishing with the impressive figures of three for 26 off nine overs.
Ingram added 24 runs to his overnight score but apart from captain Kruger van Wyk, who ended on 39 not out, none of the visiting batsmen dominated a Wellington attack which leaked too many runs yesterday.
In Hamilton, a maiden first-class century to Otago Volts wicketkeeper Derek de Boorder highlighted their first innings of 389 against the Northern Knights.
Resuming this morning at Seddon Park on 54 with his team on 264 for six, de Boorder found lower order support from the likes of Ian Butler, who stayed around for 1-1/2 hours while contributing 33.
The 25-year-old appreciated that effort as he extended Northern's stay in the field for as long as possible before being unbeaten on 119 when the 10th wicket fell, having batted for 353 minutes and striking a high proportion of boundaries, with 19 fours and one six on his scoring chart.
Northern recovered from the early loss of Brad Wilson to reach stumps at a powerful 213 for two, with Daniel Flynn making 104 not out and BJ Watling 89 after enjoying a stand of 184 for the second wicket.
Flynn's second hundred of the first-class competition and the eighth of his career was a rapid affair, coming off only 133 deliveries balls as he dominated the scoring while Watling was content to feed the left-hander the strike in between hitting 18 fours himself before his downfall shortly before stumps.
Elsewhere, Tim McIntosh emerged from a form slump as Auckland made slow progress responding to Canterbury's first innings of 334 at Colin Maiden Park in Auckland.
The tall left-hander employed his trademark watchful defence to hit 71 in his team's 175 for four, leaving the visitors in control against an Auckland side playing for pride only because they are the only team out of title contention .
Having cobbled together just 45 runs in his previous six innings, McIntosh signalled his return to form by staying at the crease for a little more than three hours to help make amends for the cheap dismissals of Jeet Raval and Andrew de Boorder.
Greg Todd applied himself as well to chisel out 42 runs in more than three hours and he will resume tomorrow alongside Garth Hopkins on 18.
Earlier, Shanan Stewart added just nine runs to his overnight score when he was removed for 90 by spinner Bruce Martin before the left-armer finished with figures of three for 66 off 29 overs to complement a return of four for 45 from Colin de Grandhomme.
NZPA
