Sinclair lords it over Auckland

Central Districts 229 for 8 (Sinclair 95*, Nicol 3-39) beat Auckland 174 (Mills 47, Hitchcock 43, Diamanti 3-28, Hefford 3-29) by 55 runs
Scorecard

Central Districts defeated Auckland by 55 runs after scoring 229 for 8. Mathew Sinclair led the way with an unbeaten 95 after CD found themselves in a spot of bother at 36 for 2. Jamie How, who was dismissed for 45, put on 63 with Sinclair. Auckland's response began with a stutter. At 10 for 3, they were already on the defensive. Then Matt Horne fell for 16 (39 for 4). Kyle Mills and Paul Hitchcock scored defiant 40s and put on 87 for the seventh wicket, but their dismissals effectively signalled the end of Auckland's chances.

Wellington 266 for 7 (Franklin 76, Fleming 64) beat Otago 262 (Gaffaney 84) by 3 wickets
Scorecard

Wellington beat Otago in a close high-scoring encounter at the Basin Reserve. Chris Gaffaney's 84 was instrumental in Otago's cempetetive total of 262 - a score that could have been larger if more batsmen had converted their starts. Stephen Fleming then steadied Wellington's innings with 64 off 57 balls after an unsteady start. But the most significant batting came from James Franklin and Luke Woodcock, who put on 78 for the sixth wicket. Franklin was in outstanding touch and scored 76 off 65 deliveries, while Woodcock hit 39. The match went into the final over, but Mayu Pasupati, unbeaten on 30, took his team past the target with a powerful blow.

Northern Districts 255 for 7 (Marshall 85, Styris 70) beat Canterbury 240 for 8 (Astle 123, Papps 51, Aldridge 4-46) by 15 runs
Scorecard

After a good 142-run opening stand which took them to within 114 of victory, Canterbury lost the plot and fell short of Northern Districts' score of 255 by 15 runs at Gisborne. The feature of ND's innings was the 109-run stand between James Marshall and Scott Styris for the third wicket. The lower order chipped in with useful contributions, with Peter McGlashan ending the innings on a lively note, scoring an unbeaten 20 off 13 balls. Canterbury's bowlers struggled. Nathan Astle was the most successful, taking 2 for 40, while Stephen Cunis kept a tidy line and length to finish with 1 for 32. Astle was immediately in the action with the bat in a superb opening stand with Michael Papps. Papps was out for 51 but Astle carried on to score 123. The remaining batsmen were unable to push on to victory as Graeme Aldridge took 4 for 46. His victims were all dangerous strokeplayers who could have sealed the game for Canterbury: Craig McMillan for 17, Chris Cairns for 3, and Cunis and Hayden Shaw for ducks.