Broom sweeps aside Central Districts

Canterbury 222 for 2 (Broom 84*, Fulton 76*) beat Central Districts 221 by eight wickets
Scorecard

Neil Broom, who emerged from the New Zealand Academy this year, shared a 168-run stand for the third wicket as Canterbury beat Central Districts by eight wickets in Waikanae. Broom finished unbeaten on 84 off 96 balls, alongside Peter Fulton, who scored 76 not out off 96.

CD, who chose to bat first, failed to make the most of their chances and only Mathew Sinclair, with 83 off 88 balls, showed anything like the intent required. Stephen Cunis took 3 for 38 and Cleighton Cornelius 3 for 52.

New Zealand's Test and one-day sides seem to be pretty settled at the moment, but the selectors' toughest job this summer may well prove to be the selection of the national A side to play a series against Sri Lanka A.

The contenders at domestic level are lining up in far greater numbers than seen for many years, and Canterbury are providing a particularly strong showing. Michael Papps and Shanan Stewart have already scored one-day centuries and shown good form in the four-day version of the game, while Fulton has been in outstanding touch as well. And now Broom can be added to the list.

Auckland 134 for 3 (Howell 67) beat Northern Districts 133 (Walmsley 4-24) by seven wickets
Scorecard 134-3 beat 133

Northern Districts, the defending one-day champions, had more woes heaped onto their season of misery when they were dismissed for 133 in 46.3 overs at Eden Park. Joseph Yovich's 29 and Grant Robinson's 20 were the best efforts in a paltry ND batting effort. Kerry Walmsley took 4 for 24, Tama Canning 1 for 27 off 10 economical overs, while Brooke Walker took 2 for 25 off nine overs.

In reply, Auckland needed only 27.2 overs to work their way past the ND score. Llorne Howell produced his best innings of the summer with 62 from 73 balls, including 10 fours, while Matt Horne hit 30 off 47 balls and Aaron Barnes 31 off 28. Of the ND bowlers, Ian Butler demonstrated yet again how much his stature is growing in the domestic game by taking 1 for 29 from his eight overs. But there now appears little chance that ND will be in a position to defend their title when the semi-final stages are reached.

Wellington 248 for 5 (Franklin 67*) beat Otago 234 by 14 runs
Scorecard

Wellington's teamwork paid off again when they recovered from two potentially disastrous situations, after slumping to 25 for 2 and 90 for 4 against Otago at Carisbrook. Two middle-order partnerships, both of them featuring James Franklin, lifted Wellington to a competitive total of 248 for 5 after 50 overs.

Franklin, who scored 67 not out, shared an 82-run stand with Matthew Bell (35) and a 76-run stand with Matthew Walker who made 53 off 35 balls. Brad Scott picked up three wickets for Otago, but at a cost of 55 runs while Nathan Morland took 2 for 31 off 10 overs.

Otago got themselves back in the game after stuttering to 12 for 2, as Chris Gaffaney and Robbie Lawson added 138 for the third wicket. Both scored 74. However, the remainder of the batting order, apart from the former All Black, Jeff Wilson, who scored 33 off 38 balls, failed to fire in the face of some good bowling from Mayu Pasupati (4 for 33 off nine overs) and Ash Turner (3 for 42 off 10).

The loss meant Otago also lost their lead in the championship, which has five of the six teams within three points of each other at the halfway stage.

Points Canterbury 13, Otago 12, Wellington 12, Auckland 11, Central Districts 10, Northern Districts 4.