Anderson, bowlers hand Northern Districts 12-run win

Corey Anderson's 18-ball 42 and wickets from Jono Boult and Anton Devcich helped Northern Districts to a 12-run win over Canterbury.

Put in to bat, Northern Districts were reduced to 56 for 3 by the tenth over. Anderson led the recovery, adding 44 off 26 deliveries with Dean Brownlie for the fourth wicket. Ed Nuttall dismissed Anderson in the 16th over with the score at 123, and Northern Districts' surge at the end came from Daryl Mitchell who struck 24 off 13 deliveries, before he was run out off the final ball of the innings.

Aiden Blizzard, who scored 69 off 53 deliveries, was the common factor in two partnerships of 44 and 53 runs for the second and third wicket with Henry Nicholls and Peter Fulton respectively. Northern Districts, however, kept chipping away at the wickets. Boult and Devcich picked up two wickets apiece as Canterbury were eventually restricted to 160 for 6 in their 20 overs.

Neil Broom's unbeaten 70 steered Otago to a seven-wicket victory in Dunedin after their bowlers, led by Bradley Scott, had limited Wellington to 139 for 6. The win extended Otago's run at the top of the points table, giving them a four-point lead over second-placed Northern Districts.

Broom shared a 105-run opening partnership with Anaru Kitchen, setting base for Otago's comfortable chase of 140, as he completed his second fifty-plus score in the last three matches. Broom's knock came off 53 deliveries and included five fours and three sixes.

Earlier, Otago's bowlers tied Wellington down after their openers, Alecz Day and Michael Papps, had started the innings with a 55-run stand. Wellington struggled to stitch partnerships together once the opening stand was broken and Scott's 3 for 25 limited their scoring at the death.

Matthew Quinn (3 for 46) and Donovan Grobbelaar(2 for 33) staved off a tough challenge from Central Districts to help Auckland defend a total of 217 by 10 runs.

Quinn and Grobbelaar's stellar performance choked Central Districts' chase in the death overs, as Quinn removed Will Young (96) and Josh Clarkson for a duck in 17th over. Defending 23 in the last over, Grobbelaar accounted for the well-set Tom Bruce (46) off the first ball of the over, virtually sealing Auckland's victory.

Quinn accounted for opener George Worker in the first over, after which Central Districts' chase was built around Young's 96, which came off only 50 balls. Young combined with Indika Senaratne and Bruce to put on 67 and 68 for the second and fourth wickets respectively.

Auckland managed a mammoth 217 in the first innings thanks to Colin Munro's 89 and Colin de Grandhomme's unbeaten 49. The pair shared a 133-run partnership in the last nine overs, at a scoring rate of nearly 14. Munro's 89 comprised eight sixes and five fours.