Auckland will travel to take on Central Districts in Saturday's Ford Trophy preliminary final after falling to a narrow defeat against Northern Districts today.
Needing victory to have any chance of snatching top spot heading into the finals series, Auckland were edged by two wickets in low-scoring affair at Mt Maunganui.
The loss left Central Districts with home advantage for the meeting between the No1 and No2 qualifiers, the winner of which will advance directly to next Sunday's final. The loser, meanwhile, will face the victor of Saturday's sudden-death clash between Otago and ND.
The Knights will take winning form into that encounter after barely chasing down Auckland's 160 at Bay Oval. Graham Aldridge did much of the early damage with the ball, taking four wickets to reduce the visitors to 45-5.
Carl Cachopa (51) and Tarun Nethula (41no) mounted a minor resistance but, bowled out in the 44th over, Auckland's total always looked on the small side.
That appearance was eventually confirmed, though ND made tough work of their task. Dean Brownlie (45) gave his side a strong start but a two-wicket over from Matt Quinn helped haul Auckland back into the game.
The home side were finding middle-order runs hard to come by as Michael Bates and Anaru Kitchen each snared a brace, with regular wickets leaving Scott Kuggeleijn (25no from 26 balls) to play a match-winning hand at No8.
As it transpired, a win for Auckland would have lifted them to the top of the table after Central Districts were undone by last-placed Wellington at the Basin Reserve.
The home side made 244-7 from their allotment, with Stephen Murdoch (64) and Tom Blundell striking (53) half-centuries. Andrew Mathieson was again the best of the bowlers for CD, claiming 3-51 from his 10 overs to finish as the competition's top wicket-taker with 23 scalps.
Teammate George Worker topped the run-scoring charts with 500 but he was unable to contribute to the Stags' chase, being dismissed for a third-ball duck. And when No3 Dean Robinson also fell without scoring in Matt McEwan's opening over, the situation looked bleak for CD.
Kruger van Wyk (60) offered some hope but the run rate was always against the tail-enders, with the visitors soon dismissed 22 runs short of their target.
The day's other game, between Canterbury and Otago in Rangiora, was washed out with the home side on 109-1 in the first innings.
- By NZME
