KEY POINTS:
Auckland's hopes of making the State Championship final are teetering after Canterbury opening bowler Leighton Burtt exposed their fragile top order batting at Eden Park's outer oval.
Burtt, who took six wickets in Auckland's first innings, took three wickets in yesterday's final session shortened by bad light to
throw a spanner into Auckland's plans to push for an outright victory today.
Burtt's burst put the visitors on top after they had narrowly failed to take first-innings points earlier in the day.
Auckland took a 34-run lead into the second innings after dismissing Canterbury for 435 but, at stumps, they led by 69 with seven wickets left.
A defeat would end Auckland's hopes of making the final. With Wellington having already booked one final berth thanks to a two-wicket victory over Central Districts, Auckland must overturn Canterbury's six-point lead to claim the other.
They could do that with an outright victory, which would level the ledger with a game remaining. A Canterbury win, however, would put them in the final. A draw would leave Auckland needing to win outright against Wellington in their final match and hope Canterbury slip up against Otago.
Auckland's Tim McIntosh followed his first-innings double century with a dismissal he would rather forget, bowled for two offering no shot to a round-the-wicket delivery from Burtt. Martin Guptil then drove on the up at Burtt to spoon a catch to Brandon Hiini at mid-off before captain Richard Jones missed a straight full-toss to give the Canterbury right-armer nine wickets for the match.
Earlier, Canterbury fell 34 runs short in their bid for first-innings points. Their hopes of overhauling Auckland's 469 suffered an early blow when J G Myburgh added just two to his overnight score of 87 before edging Azhar Abbas to Gareth Hopkins.
Myburgh's departure broke a 138-run stand for the fourth wicket with Shannon Stewart. But Stewart and Iain Robertson put on 134 to keep Canterbury in the hunt. However, when Stewart was trapped in front for 118 shortly after Andy McKay had taken the second new ball, the momentum swung back Auckland's way.
Canterbury's hopes lay with the hard-hitting Robertson and skipper Kruger van Wyk and the pair put on 58 before Robinson edged Colin de Grandholme to McIntosh at slip when just four short of what would have been his second first-class century. But Michael Davidson (34) ensured the tail wagged and it took a brilliant diving catch from McIntosh off McKay for Auckland to finally claim the two first-innings points. Left-arm seamer McKay was the pick of the Auckland bowlers with 4-78.