Auckland win State Shield

Auckland 120 for 5 (Jones 44, Styris 40) beat Otago 119 (Todd 50, Martin 3-7, Adams 3-29) by five wickets
Scorecard

Having brushed aside Wellington in the semi-final, Auckland turned in another disciplined bowling performance to set up a five-wicket win over Otago and, with it, claim the 2006-07 State Shield title at Dunedin's University Oval.

As they had done at Wellington, the opening duo of Chris Martin and Andre Adams did the damage up the order after Otago were put in to bat. Martin, who'd passed 100 Test wickets during the recent home series against Sri Lanka, returned an excellent spell of three wickets for seven runs; at the other end, Adams removed Shaun Haig and the in-form Aaron Redmond to reduce Otago to 6 for 43 in the first 16 overs.

Greg Todd buckled down for an 111-ball 50, the highest score of the innings by far, and down the order Nathan McCullum and Bradley Scott - only just called up to New Zealand's provisional WC squad - hit 17 each but Otago folded for 119 inside 42 overs. Adams finished with 3 for 29, Rob Nicol grabbed two quick wickets, and Mayu Pasupati and Paul Hitchcock had a wicket each.

Auckland's batting wobbled slightly in pursuit of 120 but captain Richard Jones (44) and Scott Styris (40) did enough to ensure victory in 21.3 overs. Paul Hitchcock departed for just eight in the second over, but Jones added 49 with Lou Vincent (17). Jones smacked seven fours in his 43-ball innings before he became medium-pacer Mathew Harvie's first victim. Styris, who made the game courtesy the national side's elimination from the ongoing CB Series in Australia, hit a run-a-ball 40, including two big sixes, before departing with the scores tied. David Houpapa easily stole a quick single off Harvie to seal the win and, following their State Twenty20 title, a limited-overs double for the season.