Auckland made light work of Central Districts as they recorded a 102 run win in the Provincial A tournament.
Chasing 259 for victory, Central struggled early on and lost wickets regularly to eventually be all out for 156 after 41.2 overs.
Auckland were put in by Central and started strong thanks to Tim McIntosh who kept up his fine form after his ton against Wellington. He stuck around until the 35th over when he was dismissed for 58.
The rest of the top order all got starts, but failed to convert until Dusan Hakaraia took control of the Auckland innings with a sensible 56.
With ten overs to go it was time to lift the run rate and Auckland’s man to do this was Donovan Grobbelar who smashed 40 from 28 deliveries.
With just two balls to go in the innings Auckland were all out, but had posted a decent total of 258 for Central to chase.
For Central Bevan Small was chief wicket destroyer as he finished with figures of four for 39 from ten overs.
The chase stalled early for Central with the two openers dismissed cheaply. Greg Todd (31) and Will Young (30) seemed to be bringing Central back into the match, but that hope was short lived as both failed to go on to bigger scores.
From that point on there wasn’t many positive moments in the Central innings.
Carl Cachopa made 17, but there wasn’t enough depth in the batting line-up and eventually Central were all out in the 42nd over for just 156.
It was a good all-round bowling display from Auckland, but best figures belonged to Lockie Ferguson who grabbed figures of three for 30 from eight overs.
