Central Districts storm to Ford Trophy title

A collective performance from the Central Districts batsmen, followed by incisive spells from Bevan Small and Andrew Mathieson, set up their 78-run victory against Auckland in the final of the Ford Trophy at Colin Maiden Park.

Central Districts made a poor start after winning the toss by losing their openers in the first two overs, but from 2 for 3 they were lifted by a series of useful scores from the rest of their batsmen. Kruger van Wyk's 53 was the anchoring innings, while Dane Cleaver's 51 off 39 balls provided momentum. Towards the end of the innings, Doug Bracewell made 24 off 18 balls and Small clubbed 29 off 12 to take the total to 271 for 7 in 50 overs.

Auckland's openers put on 25 runs inside three overs, but once that partnership was broken the chase went into freefall. None of the batsmen from positions No. 2 to 7 got past 20 and Auckland had slumped to 110 for 8 in the 26th over. Donovan Grobbelaar and Michael Bates scored a brace of 40s to lift the score to 193 before Auckland were dismissed in 38.2 overs. Mathieson was the wrecker of the middle order with 4 for 22, while Small took 3 for 40 in eight overs.

Though Central Districts opener Jamie How was dismissed for a golden duck in the final match of his career, he was able to sign off witha tournament title.