ND pretty in pink as they thump Canty

Northern Districts' clinical 71-run win over Canterbury yesterday set up a tense four-team race for the domestic Twenty20 cricket decider in the final three rounds.
Northern's imposing total of 184 for seven was plenty at Seddon Park in Hamilton as bottom-placed Canterbury collapsed to 113 all out in the 16th over.
It left just four competition points  among the top-four sides, with Otago and Central Districts on 20 and Auckland and Northern on 16 as they chase a spot in the January 31 final, with the next round to be played on Friday.
While Daniel Vettori produced another fine all-round performance, left-armer Bradley Scott was the main bowling destroyer for Northern with figures of three for 11.
Scott's initial two-over spell of three for none crippled the Canterbury innings to 51 for five in the eighth over, after Sri Lankan import Tillakaratne Dilshan took a brilliant catch off Brent Arnel to remove captain Peter Fulton for five.
All three of Scott's victims were key wickets - Shanan Stewart for one, topscorer Rob Nicol for 31 and Craig McMillan for nought - which left Dean Brownlie needing to negotiate the hat-trick delivery.
Brownlie and Carl Frauenstein hit quickfire 20s in a losing cause before both were removed by Vettori who mopped up the tail with figures of three for 31.
Vettori led the way with the bat at No 3 for Northern with a brisk 49 off 41 balls before he was run out in the final over.
All the Northern top-six chipped in, with Anton Devcich continuing his big hitting with four sixes in his 17-ball knock of 35, and Dilshan scoring 28 off 19 at the top.
Andrew Ellis was the clear pick of the Canterbury bowlers with three for 32 off four overs.
Auckland maintained their push for a place in the championship final with a one-run win over Central Districts at Nelson
yesterday.
Batting first, Auckland scored 162 for seven with opener Lou Vincent registering a top score of 57 off 49 balls.
Central's reply of 161 for seven was bolstered by a 50 from Mathew Sinclair, 31 from Ross Taylor and 30 by Tim Weston.

 Vincent has been tapping a rich vein of recent form, scoring two fifties and an unbeaten ton in his past five Twenty20 innings.
Auckland were in trouble at 57 for two but Vincent and Gareth Hopkins put on a breezy 53 for the third wicket to provide a launching pad for the final five overs. Jacob Oram was the best of the Central bowlers taking three for 36.
Michael Bates, Daryl Tuffey and Ravi Bopara took two wickets each to rein in Central's reply, which featured a 55-run partnership between Sinclair and Taylor for the third wicket.
The danger posed by that partnership was snuffed out in the 11th over when Bopara trapped Taylor leg before wicket. Sinclair hung on until the 17th over, departing at 125 for five.

 Otago reclaimed the lead in the competition without a ball being bowled in their match against Wellington yesterday.
Rain in Wellington saw the seventh round match at the Basin Reserve abandoned. It was Otago's second no-result of the season, and drew them level on 20 points with Central Districts. .

 NZPA