Nicol's ton gives Canterbury important win

Canterbury 362 for 6 (Nicol 171*, Cachopa 58) beat Northern Districts 254 (Verma 58, McCone 3-64) by 108 runs
Scorecard

Canterbury went to second place in the Ford Trophy table after beating Northern Districts by 108 runs. Rob Nicol was the star of the match, scoring a blistering, unbeaten hundred after Canterbury chose to bat. Coming in to bat at No. 3, Nicol blasted 171 off 116 balls and hit 12 fours and 10 sixes. His knock pushed Cantebury's innings from 271 for 6 at the start of the 46th over to a final score of 362 for 6.

Canterbury's bowlers defended the large total well, striking regularly to render the Northern Districts chase ineffective. Where most of the top order failed, Northern Districts' tailenders resisted stubbornly, lifting the innings from 152 for 8. Jono Boult, Graeme Aldridge and Anurag Verma helped Northern Districts reach 254 before they were dismissed in the 40th over.

Otago 287 for 6 (Broom 76, McCullum 54*) beat Central Districts 283 (Cachopa 93, Van Wyk 90, Beard 2-23) by four wickets
Scorecard

Otago registered their first win of the tournament, beating Central Districts by four wickets in a closely contested match.

Batting first, Central Districts scored 283, riding largely on contributions from Carl Cachopa and Kruger van Wyk, who scored 93 and 90. The pair put on 125 runs for the fifth wicket and restored some solidity to the innings after Central Districts were struggling at 70 for 4 in the 16th over. Van Wyk and Ben Smith then added 59 runs for the sixth wicket before the Otago bowlers broke through to dismiss the lower order.

The Otago reply was led by Neil Broom, who shared two important partnerships with captain Derek de Boorder and Nathan McCullum. After Broom was out lbw to Andrew Mathieson, McCullum guided the chase, taking Otago past the target with nine balls to spare.