Otago plunder Wellington for 221-run win

Otago racked up 362 for 8 and then dismissed Wellington for 141 in 23.3 overs to record a 221-run victory in Invercargill. Having chosen to bat, Otago rode on 91 off 94 balls from Michael Bracewell, and Hamish Rutherford smacked 126 off 90 balls with seven sixes and ten fours. There were cameos from the other batsmen too - James Neesham made 39 and Derek de Boorder 30 - as Otago scored at 7.24 runs per over. Luke Woodcock took 3 for 56 for Wellington.

Neil Wagner and Jacob Duffy ruined the Wellington chase, taking 4 for 43 and 3 for 40 respectively. Duffy claimed most of the top order and Wagner razed through the bottom. Opener Michael Pollard top scored for Wellington with 35, and Woodcock was the only other batsman to make it to 30. Wellington could not play even half their overs.

BJ Watling made an unbeaten 47 off 40 balls to lead Northern Districts to a three-wicket victory in the final over against Canterbury in Mount Maunganui. Chasing 252, Northern Districts needed 42 off 38 balls after Ish Sodhi was the seventh wicket to fall, but Watling found a reliable partner in No. 9 James Baker, who was unbeaten on 22 off 21. They won the game with two balls to spare. The chase had been set up by useful contributions from the top order, and Dean Brownlie top scored with 67. Tim Johnston took 3 for 39 for Canterbury.

After choosing to bat, Canterbury had recovered from 84 for 5 in the 21st over to post 251 for 8. Andrew Ellis made an unbeaten 96 at No. 6, and Cam Fletcher's 41 at No. 7 was the next best score. Tony Goodin took 3 for 36 for Northern Districts, while Cody Andrews and Anton Devcich took two each.

Mark Chapman's rapid knock of 157 from 111 balls was not enough to take Auckland over the line in their chase of 349 against Central Districts, who collected four points for their 47-run win in Auckland. The hosts were reduced to 35 for 4 in the 14th over when Chapman came out to score his highest List A score and propel the team score towards 300 with an 83-ball hundred. Once Central Districts' medium-pacers rattled Auckland's top order, Chapman scored an 83-ball hundred and struck 15 fours and seven sixes overall. No. 8 Donovan Grobbelaar's 46-ball 56 was the only source of support as the duo took the score from 117 for 6 to 243 for 7, and Auckland eventually ended on 310 for 9. Seth Rance and Bevan Small ended with three wickets each.

Earlier, Central Districts amassed 348 for 7 with a run-a-ball 90 from opener Ben Smith, 54-ball 60 from No. 3 Jesse Ryder and fifties from Tom Bruce (91 off 62) and Doug Bracewell (52 off 23). Bruce and Bracewell combined for a quickfire fifth-wicket stand to score 76 runs from seven overs that propelled them to 348 for 7. Grobbelaar finished with 4 for 65 for a fine all-round show, but it wasn't enough for Auckland.