Northern Districts suffer Munro mauling

Colin Munro hit 82 off a mere 39 balls to ensure Auckland stormed into the Georgie Pie Super Smash final. They piled on a highly entertaining 191 for 4 in 20 overs with 13 fours and 11 sixes. Norther Districts' batsmen, however, wilted under scoreboard pressure and bundled out for 154 with nine balls to spare.

The fun began immediately. Auckland chose to bat. Martin Guptill, fresh off the day-night Test, switched to T20 mode with 63 runs and five sixes and Munro continued the mayhem. For 43 minutes, he was unstoppable, carving eight fours and heaving five sixes to fetch himself a strike-rate of 210. In his wake were four Northern Districts bowlers, nursing economy rates over 9.

Northern Districts attempted to keep up with the required rate, but they lost too many wickets. They lost their openers for 20 runs but Corey Anderson, who has not played for New Zealand since the Lord's Test in May due to a back injury, struck 39 off 22 balls to take the score to 101 for 2 in 11.2 overs.

Northern Districts needed 91 more in 52 balls with seven wickets in hand. But their middle order could not handle the pressure and instead lost five wickets for 28 runs and that ended their challenge.