Auckland to meet Canterbury in State League final

Natalee Scripps: nine wickets in two matches against Wellington

Auckland qualified to defend their State League title despite a last-round loss to Wellington yesterday.

They will meet Canterbury in the final at Redwood Park on Saturday.

Details of the defending champions' last two games were:

On Monday Auckland medium-fast bowler, Natalee Scripps ended the Auckland Hearts' vital State League match against the Wellington Blaze on Monday with the competition's second-best figures.

Scripps took six for 19 and bowled her side into Saturday's final where the Hearts will defend their title against the Canterbury Magicians.

The best bowling figures are held by another Auckland pace bowler, Munokoa Tunupopo, who took 7-19 against Central Districts in 1999/00.

Earlier, TelstraClear White Ferns captain Emily Drumm top scored with 34 of the Hearts' total of 145, their lowest total against Wellington. However, Scripps' second five-wicket bag saw Wellington dismissed for 110.

Yesterday, an unbeaten record-breaking sixth-wicket partnership of 144 by Wellington Blaze's Maia Lewis and Megan Wakefield took their side to a five-wicket win over the State Auckland Hearts.

It was the second match of a double-header played in Auckland and the home side looked set for a win after Scripps had the visitors six for three in the seventh over.

But Wakefield (76 not out) and Lewis (74 not out) consolidated the innings and overhauled the Hearts' score of 198 with 15 balls to spare.

In the Auckland innings, Kelly Brown top scored with a hard hit unbeaten 43 off just 47 balls. Seventeen-year-old Ros Kember compiled 37 and captain Michelle Lynch 23.

Despite the loss, the State Auckland Hearts will travel to Christchurch to defend their title in the final on Saturday.