Wellington ride to six-wicket win

Jesse Ryder's 60 steered Wellington to a comfortable six-wicket victory against Northern Districts at the Basin Reserve. Wellington cantered to their target with two overs to spare after Iain O'Brien's fine spell of 3 for 21 helped restrict Northern to just 150 for 8.

A target of 151 isn't huge in the Twenty20 format but Wellington made their chase harder by losing Chris Nevin and Michael Parlane by the third over, with only 16 on the board. Ryder continued to blaze away at one end, striking six fours and two sixes in his 39-ball 60. He found a steady partner in Neal Parlane, Michael's brother, and together they added 92 for the third wicket and virtually sealed the victory.

A lot of Wellington's good work had been done by their bowlers who took regular wickets and didn't allow Northern to build momentum. Alun Evans top-scored with 45 but got no support from the other batsmen. James Marshall, Daniel Flynn and Ian Butler chipped in with 27, 23 and 21 but O'Brien's double-strike in the 17th took the wind out of Northern's sails.