Canterbury and Wellington are the joint early leaders at the NZC Gillette Men's Under 19 nationals, after another day of strong competition on a windy day in Lincoln to settle the third round.
It was a bat-first morning with Canterbury, Otago and Central Districts all winning the toss in their respective matches, but only Canterbury coming out the other side with a win to show for it.
Alongside Wellington, the hosts are now the only unbeaten side with two from two after the first three days, both teams also having picked up a bonus point to level-peg at the top of the table.
• Canterbury Under 19 beat Auckland Under 19 by 56 runs
Bert Sutcliffe Oval
An unbeaten 91* from number four batter Robbie Foulkes was the highlight in Canterbury's innings on "the Bert", Foulkes sharing a 116-run stand with Devon Flannery (70) for the fifth wicket as the hosts put on a healthy tally of 266/9 in 50 overs.
The pair cracked along at a lively pace, steadying the ship after their side had been 56/3 in the 13th and then 60/4 against the talent-packed Auckland side.
Foulkes carried on until the last ball of the innings when he was run out going for every opportunity, while for Auckland the wickets were shared around the attack with Jack Wright and Rahman Hekmat each picking up a tidy brace.
Auckland would need just a touch under run-a-ball in response but at 55/5 in the 12th over, the ball was back in the red and black court.
Cam Paul had helped himself to three early wickets and would go on to an excellent 4-45 off his eight overs, as well as effecting a runout.
However, Auckland was determined to put up a fight in the traditional rivalry, number four Daniel Presland (55) putting up a half century before Neil Patel top-scored down the order with a fighting 80.
His departure at 209/9 in the 45th over hastened the Canterbury victory in the next, as Auckland suffered their first loss of the week.
• Wellington Under 19 beat Central Districts Under 19 by 8 wickets
Lincoln Green
Little was going to plan for defending champions Central Districts other than winning the toss again, with CD emerging winless after the first three days.
Central got off to a good enough start in their innings, putting 266/9 on the board in their 50 overs - exactly the same score as Auckland's Canterbury's match-winning total in the adjacent match.
But Wellington made winning look easy, chasing it down seven overs and eight wickets to spare.
For CD, opener Bayley Latter (52), number four Sam Cassidy (45), captain Jonty Fleck (38 at six), wicketkeeper-batter Logan Ryniker-Doull (55 off 51 at eight) and Josh Fairbrother (27 off 26 at nine) all contributed and kept the momentum going despite little clumps of wickets.
Henry MacIntyre took four for 65 off his 10 to inflict the bulk of the damage, then sat back and watched the top order take care of the chase.
Peter Bonar got thing moving with 54 at the top, ahead of a match-winning unbroken 174*-run stand for the third wicket between Henry Christie (80 not out) and Muhammad Abbas.
Abbas was again outstanding as he reached his second unbeaten century in as many days, backing up yesterday's 101 not out against Northern Districts with 103 not out today - making up for lost time and then some after no play on the opening day.
Abbas cracked his three figures off 84 balls in 87 minutes, with eight boundaries and five sixes. A couple of balls later Christie finished things off with a six to win the match at the end of the 43rd over, Wellington looking in strong form in the one-day format.
• Northern Districts Under 19 beat Otago Under 19 by 5 wickets
Lincoln No.3
Like CD, Otago Under 19 was also hunting for their first win in round three, but may have had their hopes dented after ND contained them to a relatively modest 161 all out in 40 overs on the smaller No.3 ground.
Otago had elected to bat, but the plans went pear-shaped as only two batters reached 30, while ND worked together to claim regular wickets.
Darcy Collett finished with a strong 4-31 off his 10 before Rikesh Patel's 42 at the top got ND off to a good start chasing down the runs - Patel holding the fort after the loss of two quick early wickets.
He shared a 79-run stand with first drop and captain Spencer Wills whose 51 at a run-a-ball clip helped make light work of the task at hand.
Despite losing Wills and Riley McCullum in the space of two overs, ND chased it down with ease, ticking off the chase inside 30 overs for a bonus point win to nudge them above Auckland into third spot on the table.
Tomorrow is the fourth and final round of one-day clashes before a rest day for all teams on Wednesday, followed by the decisive three T20s on Thursday and Friday.
