Duckworth-Lewis and Hitchcock take Auckland to victory

Auckland's win over Northern Districts highlighted a topsy-turvy day in the State Shield. Auckland was aided by Mssrs Duckworth and Lewis after the only black cloud in the country perched over Eden Park late in the day. In fairness, Auckland looked comfortable chasing, being 188 for 2 in 37.4 overs after Paul Hitchcock (108) posted a hard-hitting century in 99 balls. When the downpour came the revised target was 177 so Auckland won by eight wickets. Earlier, Northern posted a competitive 267 thanks mainly to captain James Marshall's stylish 87. He was run out on the last ball of the game attempting a cheeky bye. Twin brother Hamish looked untroubled getting through to 39. Mayu Pasupati was best of the bowlers with 4 for 46.

Peter Fulton fell from a great height yesterday as part of a Canterbury team thrashed at home by lowly Central Districts. Fulton, the player of the recently completed series against Sri Lanka fell lbw third ball to Michael Mason for no score. Canterbury was dismissed for 109 as Ewen Thompson and Lance Hamilton both finished with figures of 4 for 22. Central had no problems knocking off the total in 24.2 overs, with Ross Taylor (55) and Geoff Barnett (52) not out after an unbroken 91-run stand.

Wellington was taken for a wild ride at Carisbrook by Otago, which demolished the previously unbeaten team. Otago seamer Warren McSkimming took a match-winning 5 for 9 off 7.3 overs as Wellington was skittled for a paltry 81 in 28.3 overs. McSkimming dismissed Chris Nevin off the first ball of the match and things scarcely improved for Wellington thereafter. Otago passed the total in 19.3 overs with Neil Broom (18) and Jonathan Trott (7) the not out batsmen. Luke Woodcock top scored for Wellington with 20 while Aaaron Redmond scored 34 for the home team.