Vincent and Harris smash hundreds

Close Auckland 213 for 3 (Vincent 115*) trail Canterbury 443 (Papps 130, Harris 103, Fulton 68) by 230 runs
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Lou Vincent served a reminder to the New Zealand selectors in his first outing since being dropped from the national one-day side. Playing for Auckland against Canterbury, he ended the second day unbeaten on 115, scored off 119 balls. He emulated the performance of Chris Harris, the Canterbury captain, who scored 103 after being dropped from the international side, helping Canterbury reach 443.

Aaron Barnes, the Auckland medium-pacer, did the damage in the Canterbury innings with career-best figures of 4 for 55 off 29.5 overs. Kerry Walmsley took 3 for 66. For Auckland, Mark Richardson contributed 41 as they ended the day on 213 for 3.

Close Central Districts 350 and 1 for 0 lead Otago 209 (Mason 5-62) by 142 runs
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Not even a debilitating virus that swept through the Central Districts players at Pukekura Park could prevent them from taking control of the match against Otago. After scoring 350 in their first innings, Central Districts reduced Otago to 89 for 7. Jordan Sheed and Neil Rushton lifted the score to 169 for 9, and a useful 33 by Brad Scott helped the team finish with 209. Michael Mason took 5 for 62 for Central Districts, his best figures of the season. In the two overs before stumps, Central Districts were 1 without loss.

Close Wellington 250 and 115 for 7 (Bell 60) lead Northern Districts 125 by 240 runs
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In a match that seemed destined for an early finish, Wellington made good use of their 125-run first-innings advantage. Northern Districts had a poor start and were 54 for 7 before Mark Orchard and Bruce Martin added 70 runs for the eighth wicket. Orchard ended on 39 not out after 192 minutes of batting. James Franklin took 4 for 34, including the last two wickets off successive balls.

But Wellington struggled with the bat in their second innings. After their openers had added 48, they lost six wickets for the addition of only 35 more. Martin, the left-arm spinner, took wickets off successive balls, and though Franklin denied him the hat-trick, he was out soon after.

Martin had 4 for 30 and Gareth West 2 for 5. The solitary innings of defiance was provided by Matthew Bell, who scored for 60 off 110 balls.