Date-stamped : 19 Dec93 - 10:51
Auckland v Northern Districts, Eden Pk, Auckland.

Auckland beat Northern Districts with nine balls to spare in  the
only   match  that wasn't severely influenced by the weather.  On
an excellent pitch the cricket  was  uninspired  for   the  first
three  days.   Auckland   made  about 290 runs in their first in-
nings, with Northern finishing around 80 runs in arrears.
It was ironic that the most negative game of the round pro- duced
an outright, but at least on the final day the teams gave specta-
tors a bit of a spectacle. Auckland made 215-9 to set up a target
of  about  290 runs in 84 overs. Features included the 87 runs of
Parore (who also kept very well) and  Hart's  five wickets.   The
left  armer  showed  once  again  that he is a better player than
Haslem, who continues to keep him out of the national squad. Oth-
er good batting came from Vaughan, whose 69 went with a first in-
nings 79, while Rhinehald (sp) made 40 to give him  110  for  the
match.
When Burnett was dismissed for 34 (he scored 71 in the  1st  dig)
Northern  were  60  for four. Bailey and the 35 year old comeback
man Barry Cooper then managed to smash the bowling around  before
Bailey was dismissed for 63.
The wickets continued to fall, but while Cooper was in  ND  still
had a chance. With nine overs to go and 8 down, the chase was fi-
nally given up, but when Cooper was out in the seventies the last
pair   were   unable  to  survive  the final 4 overs.  Allrounder
Steve Brown took five wickets.
The Auckland commentators were happy with the win, but felt  that
Northern made most of the running and were unlucky to stay at the
bottom of the table after their 41 run loss.  Auckland 16 points,
ND 0.

<END> Contributed by Jason (jmas@waikato.ac.nz)