Hay, Worker and Rance fashion Canterbury rout

Central Districts held sway of their match from the moment the coin came down in their favour. They chose to bat, put up a mammoth total, with their openers and No. 3 providing 325 of their 498 for 7 declared, and used scoreboard pressure to buy themselves a win over Canterbury by an innings and 86 runs.

George Worker and Greg Hay set the ball rolling, scoring 111 and 140 respectively. And when the third-change bowler Tim Johnston broke through their partnership with the score on 188, the record-breaking Brad Schmulian came out and threatened the score a century to back up his double on debut last month. He fell 26 runs short, but had set up Central Districts to dictate terms for the rest of the game.

The bowlers played their part as well, allowing only three Canterbury batsman - Michael Pollard (62), Cole McConchie (56), Cam Fletcher (50) - to reach fifty in two innings. Seth Rance picked up a five-for to ensure his side gained a whopping 304-run lead and Blair Tickner took the reins after the follow-on was enforced, picking up 4 for 41. It was Canterbury's second loss of the tournament, and totals of 194 and 218 suggests their batsmen had succumbed fairly meekly.