Cricket: Auckland sent spinning into Shell Cup playoff

By RICHARD BOOCK

Needless to say, after steeling themselves for an onslaught from any of half-a-dozen household names yesterday, the Auckland Aces were ultimately undone by Canterbury's most unrecognisable player.

Beaten by four wickets after self-destructing against the unheralded spin-bowling of Carl Anderson, Auckland will now attempt to revive their Shell Cup hopes in tomorrow's sudden-death semifinal against Northern Districts on Eden Park's Outer Oval.

Northern kept their title hopes alive with a 102-run win over Central Districts at Palmerston North, while Wellington - who needed a big result to make the semifinal through a superior run-rate - crashed to an ignominious 54-run defeat in the chase for just 135 against Otago at the Basin Reserve.

Scott Styris continued his swashbuckling season with a half century in Northern's 207 for eight and grabbed three wickets for 23 as Central were bowled out for 105.

The final shuffling of the pack allows Canterbury to qualify automatically for the best-of-three final.

Asked to bat first on a slow pitch at Eden Park, Auckland found Aaron Barnes and the recovering Dion Nash in good touch, but would not have counted on the damage wreaked by the left-arm leg-spin of Anderson, whose career-best four for 33 closed the innings down at 208 for eight.

Gunning for their seventh title in nine summers, the defending champions were forced to negotiate a similar threat from leg-spinner Brooke Walker, weathering a dicey patch in the middle of their innings before Chris Harris and Chris Cairns dragged their side to safety with five balls to spare.

The pair added 60 in a match-deciding sixth wicket partnership after Walker - who ended with three for 29 - reduced Canterbury from 126 for two to 145 for five, sending back Brad Doody, Craig McMillan and Gary Stead in quick succession.

Walker bowled a tantalising length and did just enough off the slow surface to make scoring down the ground a perilous task, but - for all that - may have proved far more effective had he been used in two spells.

Cairns left four runs short of the winning target when he miscued an attempted drop-kick off Mills, while Harris grafted loyally for 73 balls, seeing off the threat of Walker before guiding the southerners home in relative comfort.

Apart from that partnership and some handy top-order work from Doody, however, Canterbury's batting was far from scintillating, and generally struggled against some good bowling from Walker, Mills and Barnes.

Nathan Astle top-edged an attempted hook off Mills, Stephen Fleming played two signature straight drives before paddling Andre Adams to square-leg, and McMillan - batting in spectacles for the first time - lost sight of the main objective and holed out against Walker.