Winnings starts for Wellington, Auckland and N Districts

A maiden List-A hundred from Craig Cachopa helped Auckland beat Canterbury by five wickets in their first Ford Trophy match on Monday.

Having chosen to bat first, Canterbury looked set for a big score as Peter Fulton and Rob Nicol added 118 runs for the third wicket. However, pacers Kyle Mills and Michael Bates struck for Auckland. Mills had Nicol caught behind for 74 and Fulton fell to Bates. A quickfire 49 off 27 balls from Andrew Ellis towards the end of the Canterbury innings, helped the side reach 269.

Chasing a target of 270 to win, Cachopa, along with Tim McIntosh and Colin de Grandhomme, ensured that Auckland were home with two overs to spare. Cachopa added 113 runs for the third wicket with opener Tim McIntosh to set a platform for the chase. McIntosh fell for 72, given out hit wicket off Todd Astle's bowling. After Colin Munro was dismissed cheaply, Cachopa ensured that there were no further stutters, adding 91 runs with de Grandhomme to bring Auckland to the brink of victory.

In Nelson, Northern Districts started their Ford Trophy campaign with an 84-run win against Central Districts. Put into bat first, N Districts were boosted by a 155-run stand between Daryl Mitchell (95 off 92 balls) and James Marshall (93 off 83). The partnership took the team to 250 in the 43rd over from where the lower order was able to push the total to 322. Adam Milne accounted for three wickets, but he was expensive, giving away 64 off his nine overs.

C Districts had a disastrous start as Trent Boult struck twice in the third over of the innings. The innings was pushed into further turmoil as C Districts lost half their side by the 15th over. Ross Taylor and Kruger van Wyk scored half-centuries, but neither was able to continue for long enough to put the target under threat. In the end, C Districts were bowled out in the 39th over, handing their opponents a bonus point.

Wellington 352 for 4 (Papps 162*, Murdoch 136) beat Otago 349 for 7 (Redmond 114, De Boorder 77) by six wickets Scorecard

Blistering hundreds from Michael Papps and Stephen Murdoch helped Wellington chase a target of 350 against Otago in Wellington. Papps and Murdoch put together 273 for the second wicket in 38.5 overs to win their first match of the tournament.

After Otago were asked to bat, Aaron Redmond's 84-ball 114 and partnerships of 70, 76 and 71 for the first three wickets set them up for a huge total. After Redmond was dismissed in the 34th over, Derek de Boorder (77) and Michael Bracewell (31) took them past 300 and later, cameos from Ian Robertson and Nick Beard took them to 349.

Wellington lost Jesse Ryder in the second over, but it was followed by the mammoth partnership between Papps and Murdoch which took the game away from Otago. When Murdoch got out in the 41st over, Wellington were 279 for 2 and needed another 71 from 10 overs. Grant Elliott was dismissed in the next over but Papps took them home with eight balls to spare.