Canterbury remains unbeaten in five rounds of the Ford Trophy after strolling to a six-wicket victory in a top-of-the-table clash — opening a gap on the leaderboard with just three rounds left ahead of the Finals. And all this despite an Aces century.
The return of BLACKCAPS Henry Nicholls and Tom Latham proved to be an ace up Canterbury's sleeve at a sultry Eden Park Outer Oval, winning with more than a dozen overs to spare today — despite Brad Cachopa's third Ford Trophy century for the Aces.
Having been sent in by their guests, first drop Cachopa batted from the fourth over of the morning until the last of the innings — when he was run out for 107 off 146 balls, having put on a List A record stand of 75 for the seventh wicket between the two teams with the dependable Donovan Grobbelaar (45 not out, below), as well as ticking off his 1000th List A career run.
Earlier, the busy keeper-batsman had enjoyed good support from Ford Trophy rookie Michael Guptill-Bunce (43) in a 54-run stand for the second wicket.
The pair had recovered quicky from the loss of Jeet Raval, but the Aces would go on to struggle against legspinner Todd Astle (3-44) and his colleagues as they turned the screws through the middle, picking up regular wickets and backed up by safe hands.
Canterbury looked largely untroubled in reply as they went after the Aces' 243/7.
Ronnie Hira gave them a rocket-fuelled start, thumping two sixes off James Fuller's second over and dominating an opening stand of 44 with Tom Latham.
When Hira was bowled for his quick yet effective 31, Latham simply kicked up a gear and set to work on a solid 55-run stand with Henry Nicholls.
Henry Nicholls. NZC
The latter, newly minted BLACKCAP posted an attractive half century off 58 balls. The pair looked at ease, Nicholls bringing up his fifty with a six.
Aces legspinner Tarun Nethula was able to remove Latham just short of his own half century.
Brad Cachopa goes up as Tom Latham is trapped lbw
But new batsman Peter Fulton was in no mood for leniency as the pressure evaporated and, with five boundaries and four sixes, was soon the top scorer in the innings with 65 off 55 balls as the morning humidity burnt off.
The stage was set for Peter Fulton to attack
The intrigue of one legspinner (Nethula) bowling to another (Astle) was reduced to an epilogue, but Astle capped a good day out with an unbeaten 21 off 18 balls, including a six, bringing it home with captain Andy Ellis in the 36th over.
Round five of the Ford Trophy is completed with two matches this Sunday 10 January: the Devon Hotel Central Stags v Wellington Firebirds at Fitzherbert Park, Palmerston North; and SKYCITY Northern Knights v SBS Bank Otago Volts at Cobham Oval, Whangarei, with both sides under pressure to push up into the right end of the points table.
Meanwhile the Mondiale Auckland Aces will have an opportunity for revenge in round six when they travel to play Canterbury at Hagley Oval, Christchurch, this Wednesday 13 January.
