Central Districts are one step away from defending their State Shield one-day cricket title after grabbing home advantage for the final by beating Wellington by 72 runs at the Basin Reserve yesterday.
Central Districts dominated the final round match for all but five overs where they played some atrocious cricket before
refocusing with the ball and backing it up with a brilliant performance in the field.
A delighted coach Graham Barlow believed it was the first time Central Districts had finished top of the one-day standings and he seemed bullish about their prospects in Saturday's final in New Plymouth.
They will meet the winners of Wednesday's semifinal between Northern Districts and Canterbury.
"We've peaked this week and today was just a continuation of that, and I think we are all feeling pretty good about the final," Barlow said.
"I was delighted with the fielding effort today and the only blemish was the dreadful collapse at the end. But when we mess it up, we tend to mess it up badly."
It was the mother of all collapses. Central Districts were cruising along at 228 for three in the 44th over but, when Mathew Sinclair was run out for 78 off 59 balls, they went on to lose seven wickets for 16 runs in 5.1 overs.
Their total of 244 looked inadequate but Wellington were not up to it, especially when captain Stephen Fleming, who made only two, failed.
Wellington spluttered through to 172 with James Franklin providing the only highlight with 63.
Fleming paid tribute to Central Districts, but said Wellington were a deflated side after the last-ball loss last Friday to Northern Districts took them out of the semifinal race.
Central Districts
Spearman c Franklin b Pasupati 63
How c Gillespie b O'Brien 8
Taylor lbw b Pasupati 26
Sinclair run out 78
Englefield c Woodcock b O'Brien 54
Sulzberger c Ryder b O'Brien 2
Thompson c Parlane b O'Brien 0
Griggs run out 1
Diamanti lbw O'Brien 0
Schwass not out 6
Hamilton b Patel 2
Extras (2lb, 1w, 1nb) 4
Total (48.5 overs) 244
Fall: 52, 99, 104, 228, 234, 234, 234
, 235, 237, 244
Bowling: M Gillespie 6-0-34-0, J Franklin
9-0-45-0 (1w), I O'Brien 9-0-35-5, M
Pasupati 9-0-55-2 (1nb), J Patel 9.5-0-
41-1, L Woodcock 6-0-32-0
Wellington
Nevin c Sinclair b Schwass 24
Fleming c Taylor b Thompson 2
Parlane st Griggs b How 31
Ryder run out 5
Parlane c Taylor b Schwass 8
Franklin run out 63
Woodcock c Spearman b Sulzber. 1
Pasupati run out 3
Gillespie b Schwass 13
Patel lbw b Schwass 1
Extras (5lb, 4nb, 11w) 20
Total(42.1 overs) 172
Fall: 9, 19, 37, 46, 141, 142, 153, 161,
163, 172
Bowling: L Hamilton 7-1-21-0 (1nb, 1w),
E Thompson 5-0-21-0 (2nb, 2w), A
Schwass 8.1-1-27-4 (6w), B Diamanti 8-
1-30-0, G Sulzberger 9-0-42-1 (1nb
, 2w), J How 5-0-26-1
Meanwhile Northern Districts are confident of having Scott Styris and stand-in captain James Marshall back in action for Wednesday's State Shield semifinal against Canterbury in Taupo.
The pair, who have leg injuries, were rested at Eden Park yesterday, but their absence was hardly noticed in a 112-run victory against another inept Auckland one-day performance.
Northern went into the game looking for victory, and hoping that Central Districts would fall against Wellington. That would have put Northern straight into the final.
They were hardly tested in completing the part of the deal they had control over, with Daniel Vettori leading the way with his first one-day century to set up the semifinal clash with third placed Canterbury. ? NZPA