Report

Worker 194 labours Central Districts to second

Round-up of the Ford Trophy matches played on January 2, 2015

File photo: Craig Cachopa's fine form took Auckland to their third consecutive win  •  Getty Images

File photo: Craig Cachopa's fine form took Auckland to their third consecutive win  •  Getty Images

An expeditious 194 from George Worker pushed Central Districts to second place in the points table with their 52-run win against Canterbury in Timaru. Central Districts scored a massive 405 for 6 - for the second time in the tournament, against the same opposition - and dismissed Canterbury in 45.2 overs, but after they had scored 353.
Central Districts opted to bat and raced to 86 with their openers in 10.5 overs, when Jamie How fell for a 38-ball 64. Worker then put on four more fifty stands - with Ben Smith, Will Young, Kruger van Wyk and Kieran Noema-Barnett. Worker's fifth List-A hundred, and second on the trot, came off 107 balls and he went on to score the next 94 runs in only 38 deliveries. His hundred saw 16 fours and 10 sixes. Matt Henry was the most expensive bowler, leaking 88 runs in eight overs.
Canterbury also saw a rapid opening stand - of 78 runs in 11.1 overs. Henry Nicholls (70 off 58) and Neil Broom (83 off 66) struck fifties to keep them on course before medium-pacer Andrew Mathieson (5 for 66) removed both of them. They lost Peter Fulton and Brendon Diamanti too in between to leave them at 227 for 5. Andrew Ellis (72 off 49) and Todd Astle (58 off 35) brought them back, scoring 73 runs in 41 balls. But once they fell, Mathieson took two more wickets and Canterbury were wrapped up with 28 balls to spare.
Rapid hundreds from Martin Guptill and Craig Cachopa continued Auckland's dominant run with their third successive win, by 97 runs, against Otago. Auckland scored 344 and restricted Otago to 247 with the help of four wickets from Mitchell McClenaghan.
Auckland lost two wickets in two balls to Jacob Duffy, after opting to bat, and were 24 for 2 after four overs. However, Guptill (108 off 114) and Cachopa (110 off 100) scored a massive 202 runs at 6.41 runs per over and propelled them past 200. It was Guptill's third consecutive 50-plus score in the tournament, following 55 and 111, which featured nine fours and five sixes. He fell in the 36th over and despite two more wickets, Cachopa took them towards 297 with eight fours and five sixes in his second List A hundred, also his third straight 50-plus score. Cameos from Colin Munro, Colin de Grandhomme, Donovan Grobbelaar and Brad Cachopa helped them score 47 in the last five overs. Duffy finished with 5 for 58 in 10 overs.
Otago were jolted very early by McClenaghan, with two wickets in the first over and one more in the fifth over to leave them reeling on 14 for 3. Opener Sam Wells fought back with a 57-ball 47, combining with Nathan McCullum and Iain Robertson. The other Auckland bowlers also struck regularly as Roberston took them past 150 with his run-a-ball 74. Otago later saw two fifty stands - for the sixth and eighth wickets - but they were all out in 46.1 overs, despite a quick 39 from Duffy. McClenaghan took 4 for 34 from 9.1 overs.