Cricket: Williamson carries Northern to second qualifying spot

The prodigious form of Kane Williamson helped Northern Districts win a tight race for second place as the domestic one-day cricket regular season reached an exciting conclusion today.

Top qualifiers Auckland will host defending champions Northern in the major semifinal on Saturday while Canterbury are at home to Central Districts in the sudden-death minor semi on the same day in the washup to today's eighth and final round.

The chasing team scraped home in three tight fixtures.

Northern's three-wicket defeat of Auckland in Whangarei saw them climb past Central, who took their foot off the throat of Otago at their Pukekura Park stronghold in New Plymouth and lost by two wickets.

In the third match, Canterbury beat last-placed Wellington by five wickets in a high-scoring thriller in Christchurch to improve to third on the standings.

Williamson was again the key figure as Northern reached 240 for seven in 48.1 overs, methodically chasing down Auckland's 239 all out at Cobham Oval.

Williamson compiled a sedate 81 off 139 balls, adding measure to Hamish Marshall's rapid 66 off 52 balls.

It lift Tauranga 19-year-old Williamson's run-tally for the season to a competition-leading 467 at an average of 93.4, well clear of the next best -- Auckland import Ravi Bopara's 426 at 61.0.

Bopara was his team's best today with 89 off 92 ball but none of his teammates could better 32 as Bradley Scott and Joseph Yovich both claimed three scalps for Northern.

Central were left kicking themselves as they failed to defend 253 for nine after having Otago teetering at 200 for eight with six overs remaining.

Otago No 10 Nick Beard then stepped up with 33 off 20 balls, combining with the unbeaten 39 from Greg Todd in a match-defining partnership as they reached 254 for eight with two balls to spare.

The pair took nine runs off the first four balls of the final over bowled by Seth Rance to act as spoilers to a Central side with their sights on the major semifinal.

Darren Broom earlier struck 73 for the winners while Otago medium pacer Anthony Bullick claimed four wickets for 60, one of whom was Central top scorer Brendon Diamanti for a quickfire 56.

Canterbury snatched victory with eight balls to spare, thanks mostly to Shanan Stewart, whose 101 off 78 balls included 10 fours and two sixes.

It was his fourth one-day ton and formed half of a dynamic 169-run stand for the fifth wicket off 135 balls with Dean Brownlie. Playing just second one-day match, Australian-born allrounder Brownlie crashed 86 off 73 balls as Wellington's bowling accuracy deserted them.

Openers Michael Pollard and Stewart Rhodes, along with Neal Parlane and Luke Woodcock all struck half-centuries for Wellington but none of them could advance beyond 57 - a problem that has been endemic in their disappointing season.