Otago through after preliminary final washed out

Otago qualified to the Georgie Pie Super Smash final, by virtue of being table toppers in the domestic season, after their preliminary final against Auckland was washed out in New Plymouth. The match just saw the Otago innings, in which they managed 165 for 5, before Taranaki rain interrupted and eventually abandoned the rest of the match. Auckland will now take on Canterbury in the second preliminary final at the same venue on Saturday, the winner of which will meet Otago in the final on Sunday.

Asked to bat, Otago's innings was driven by Hamish Rutherford's unbeaten 66-ball 91 which included seven fours and four sixes. Apart from Rutherford, no other Otago batsman managed to score more than 20. Rutherford dominated in the 48-run partnerships he shared with Neil Broom and Michael Bracewell.

For Auckland, apart from Donovan Grobbelaar and Rob Nicol, no other bowler managed an economy rate below 9. Nicol was the pick of Auckland's bowlers with returns of 2 for 20.