Auckland move into Shield lead

Northern Districts 332 for 5 (J Marshall 152*, McGlashan 87) beat Canterbury 251 for 7 (van Wyk 85*, Harris 64, Orchard 3-36) by 81 runs
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Dropped from the one-day squad for the fourth ODI, James Marshall made things difficult for the selectors by making 152 off 137 balls © Getty Images

James Marshall's unbeaten 152 powered Northern Districts to an 81-run win over Canterbury. Marshall, dropped from the one-day squad for the fourth game against Sri Lanka, added 166 runs for the third wicket along with Peter McGlashan who made 87 before he was caught off Sunnie Chan's bowling.

None of the Canterbury bowlers managed to be economical as Northern only lost five wickets to set Canterbury a target of 333. Canterbury lost five wickets for 67, three of them going to Mark Orchard, a right-arm medium bowler. Kruger Van Wyk, a former Titans wicketkeeper-batsman who moved to New Zealand in July last year, and Chris Harris, the former New Zealand allrounder, fought back adding 139 runs before was bowled by Ian Butler in the 43rd over. Canterbury managed to add only 45 more in the remaining six overs.

Auckland 245 (Houpapa 101, Vincent 48, Elliott 4-29) beat Wellington 235 for 7 (Elliott 53, Bell 52, Parlane 50) by 10 runs
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Dave Houpapa struck his first one-day century as Auckland recovered from a sticky situation to leapfrog Wellington to the top of the Shield table. Auckland stumbled to 93 for 4 after Lou Vincent's 48 off 41 balls before Houpapa took charge. His century came off 87 balls with nine fours and seven sixes. In reply, Wellington couldn't find anyone to produce a similar effort - Matthew Bell, Neal Parlane and Grant Elliott all struck fifties but couldn't convert as the asking rate increased.

Otago 208 for 8 (Redmond 67, Diamanti 3-51) beat Central Districts 204 for 9 (Sinclair 54, Scott 3-38, Harvie 3-52) by four runs
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An impressive all-round display from Aaron Redmond helped Otago secure a four-run victory at Molyneux Park. His 93-ball 67 anchored Otago's innings as he added 61 for the third wicket with Neil Broom. The lower order couldn't fully exploit a solid base, but Central Districts struggled to 58 for 3 in the 17th over. Mathew Sinclair led the recovery with 54 off 69 balls and at 183 for 5 they needed 26 off 22 balls. However, Redmond removed Bevan Griggs and the Otago bowlers restricted the lower order with Gregory Hegglun unable to hit the required six off the final ball.