Franklin ton leads Wellington to win

Wellington 280 for 7 (Franklin 114, Woodcock 44*) beat Northern Districts 174 (Anderson 49, Gillespie 6-38) by 106 runs
Scorecard

A century from James Franklin and a six-wicket haul from seamer Mark Gillespie took Wellington to a crushing 106-run victory over Northern Districts at the Basin Reserve. The result pushed Wellington to third place after the final round of matches ahead of the playoffs.

Wellington lost wickets early on in their innings, with none of the top four lasting too long. But at 93 for 4, Franklin struck a 63-run stand with Harry Boam and followed it up with a 122-run stand with Luke Woodcock (44), which was broken only in the final over. Franklin finished with 114 off 103 balls as Wellington gave their opponents a stiff target of 281.

In reply, Northern Districts lost wickets regularly. Gillespie did the early damage with three top-order wickets and fellow seamer Boam chipped in with two crucial wickets to leave them struggling. Besides Corey Anderson, who scored 49, there was no resistance from the batsmen. Gillespie cleaned up the tail to bowl them out for 174 in the 40th over.

Otago 222 for 4 (McCullum 66*, Bracewell 63, Broom 43) beat Auckland 221 (Cachopa 51, Kitchen 38, Grobbelaar 38, Neesham 4-34) by six wickets
Scorecard

Otago finished their tournament run with their second win, against Auckland by six wickets in Dunedin. Seamers Jimmy Neesham and Ian Butler helped bowl Auckland out for 221, before a solid top-order batting effort, led by fifties from Michael Bracewell and Nathan McCullum, took them to the target in the 46th over.

Batting first, Auckland progressed in stops and starts. A few of their batsmen got starts, but no one carried on to anchor a strong total. Craig Cachopa, who top-scored with 51, opener Anaru Kitchen (38) and Donovan Grobbelaar (38) were the chief contributors. Neesham took 4 for 36, and Butler took three wickets.

Canterbury 291 for 5 (Latham 77, Nichols 54, Milne 3-44) beat Central Districts 135 (How 83, van Beek 4-23) by 156 runs
Scorecard

Central Districts finished the league stage at the bottom of the points table, with their fifth defeat of the season - a 156-run loss to Canterbury in Christchurch.

Chasing 292, they were in the hunt till the 23rd over with Jamie How, who scored 83, leading them to 120 for 4. But his wicket sparked a collapse - they lost six wickets for 15 runs to be bowled out for 135 in 28 overs, with seamer Logan van Beek taking four of those wickets. Besides How, there was no resistance from Central Districts as eight batsmen scored in single digits.

Canterbury's innings revolved around solid half-centuries from middle-order batsmen Tom Latham (77) and Henry Nicholls (54). Other top-order batsmen also chipped in with useful contributions to help build a commanding total. A total of 34 extras, including 19 wides, pushed their score to 291.