The seventeen runs that Mathew Sinclair scored before the rain came took his career aggregate to 4,259. This moves him into second place among the all-time one day runscorers with only Michael Parlane (4,332 runs) ahead of him.
Dean Robinson and Dane Cleaver made their List A debuts for the Central Stags during the rained off match in Invercargill. For Cleaver it was a case of déjà vu as his first-class debut last season against the Northern Knights was also rained off with just 8.2 overs bowled.
The Northern Knights were bowled out for their lowest score against the Auckland Aces at Colin Maiden Park in Auckland. Their previous lowest total of 104 was also at Colin Maiden Park two seasons ago.
Mitchell McClenaghan was the destroyer for the Aces with his figures of five for 30 being the best for a player on debut for Auckland. These were easily the best one day bowling figures for McClenaghan during his career, erasing his previous best of three for 72 when he was playing for the Central Stags.
Anaru Kitchen smashed his way to an unbeaten 55 as the Aces raced to an eight wicket victory. His fifty came in 36 balls and was the fastest for the Aces against the Knights.
The two wickets taken by Graeme Aldridge took his career tally against the Aces to twenty eight, the most by any bowler against them. It passed Michael Mason’s old record of twenty seven victims against the Aces.
At the Basin Reserve the Canterbury Wizards reversed the result from earlier in the season in gaining a close win over the Wellington Firebirds. The parallels between the two matches are interesting. In the first match the Firebirds passed 300 batting first and the Wizards came close in reply, but were ultimately unsuccessful. This time the Wizards passed 300 with the Firebirds just falling short in reply. In the first match Andy McKay was expensive but made the crucial breakthroughs as he finished with 4 for 63 in the Wizards chase. This time it was Ryan McCone for the Wizards who claimed the vital wickets and finished with 4 for 63 for the winning team.
Tom Latham scored his maiden one day hundred in his eighth innings for the Wizards. His innings of 130 was one run shy of Nathan Astle's best for the Wizards against the Firebirds. He brought up his century in 93 balls with only Shanan Stewart and Craig McMillan having scored faster hundreds for Canterbury against Wellington. During his innings he shared a fourth wicket partnership of 104 with Rob Nicol, a record for the Wizards and the Firebirds.
In the Firebirds reply Stephen Murdoch also scored his maiden List A century in his tenth innings for the Firebirds. His innings was the second highest for the Firebirds against the Wizards behind the 131 scored by Stephen Fleming.
Mark Gillespie picked up his fifth four wicket bag and his first against Canterbury. He has now moved level with Gavin Larsen as the top wicket-taker for the Firebirds with 98 scalps. He is poised to become the seventeenth player to reach the one hundred wicket milestone.
The Canterbury Wizards have now passed 250 in fourteen of their last seventeen innings. Their other scores during this period of 237 for eight and 239 for nine batting first and 224 for five batting second were all winning efforts.
In all matches the Canterbury Wizards have now reached 250 or better on 67 occasions well ahead of the next best, the Northern Knights who have achieved it 49 times. Of the other teams the Auckland Aces have managed it 48 times, the Wellington Firebirds 42 times, Otago Volts 40 times and the Central Stags on 39 occasions.
