The latest round of Ford Trophy provided serious levels of funk as there was a near-top of the table clash, a very weird Duckworth-Lewis tie and the return of the Northern Districts Knghts. 
Canterbury put some distance between them and the chasing pack with an impressive win over Auckland where they set the Aces 266 to win and then bowled Auckland out for 167.  

Wellington were set 250 to win by Otago, only for rain to interupt activities which meant our old mates Duckworth and Lewis popped up with Wellington smack bang on the revised target after 23 overs.  The Knights chased down the Stags' 224 with relative ease in the 43rd over with in Whangarei, this was their 2nd win so far.

Sizzle, You're On Fire

Tom Latham

After a stint in the coloured clothing for the BLACKCAPS, Tom Latham hit 96 off 111 balls for Canterbury. In two games, thanks to that 96, Latham has 138 runs which is a fair return for an international and with the national team playing three T20s without Latham, the lefty will enjoy more consistent game time with the Kings.

Todd Astle

Life's pretty good for Todd Astle at the moment as he managed to sneak in 52 runs off 67 balls for Canterbury batting at No.5 as well as 1/28 off 7 overs before joining the BLACKCAPS. Astle averages 66.33 with the bat after five innings' and is the 3rd highest wicket-taker on 12, that's why he's joining the BLACKCAPS.

Ed Nuttall

Who's the king of the pace bowlers in Aotearoa right now? Mr Nuttall! 

4/50 off 10 overs in a rousing win isn't a bad way to work your way to the top of the wicket-takers list and Nuttall now sits alone, 2 wickets ahead of Joel Baker on the throne. What I love about Nuttall is that he's getting wickets with quality left-arm swing bowling, pitching the ball up and attacking the stumps/pads. This has come with a sound economy rate of 4.58 runs per over.

I mean how's this for a Ford Trophy campaign: 3/22, 2/36, 2/15, 3/43, 1/45, 4/50 #Sexy.

Neil Broom

After hitting a few hundreds, Neil Broom decided to have a rest day against Wellington as he settled for 54 off 57 balls. Broom punished anything over-pitched and was quick to cut as he enjoys a strong start to the Ford Trophy: 2 centuries, 1 fifty, 313 runs and an average of 78.25 from 5 innings.

Dean Brownlie | Anton Devcich

The two veterans took the game away from CD , Brownlie crossed the century mark with 107 off 129 while Devcich fell a run short of a century with 99 off 103 balls. Brownlie has found some form with the willow, having scored 163 of his 167 runs in his last 2 innings' while Devcich is currently in beastmode.

Devcich is the leading run-scorer in the competition with 330 runs in 6 innings, thanks to 4 half-centuries which has come at almost a run-a-ball (97.92).

Kudos

Colin de Grandhomme

The Auckland all-rounder hasn't had the best season and his 3/42 off 8 overs against Canterbury weren't cut from the Nuttall-cloth. De Grandhomme did manage to get a few wickets and they were the key middle-order wickets of Astle and Andrew Ellis.

Mark Craig

The BLACKCAPS off-spinner bowled 6 overs for 25 runs with no wickets, he did help his Otago Volts salvage their innings with 46 off 41 balls batting at No.8.

Doug Bracewell | Ben Wheeler

While Craig was scoring runs, two more BLACKCAPS bowlers were also doing a surprising job with the bat up in Whangarei. Doug Bracewell hit 80 off 103 balls, batting at No.6 which was more than the 46 runs CD's top-5 could manage.

Bracewell was supported by Ben Wheeler, he scored 53 off 79 balls batting at No.8.

Joel Baker | Ish Sodhi

With 3/30 off 7 overs, Joel Baker has moved up to 2nd on the wicket-takers list on 13. Baker knocked the top of the Stags line up, getting both George Worker and Ben Smith LBW thanks to full-pitched bowling and a bit of swing/nibble.

Bracewell and Wheeler were both dismissed by Ish Sodhi as he returned to the Knights with a tidy spell of bowling, finishing with 2/32 off 10 overs. 

Hmm...

Kyle Jamieson is getting more game time with Canterbury and the big medium-pacer took nice figures of 2/24 off 6 overs. Jamieson and Nuttall could form an interesting new-ball partnership for the Cantabs, especially with confidence sky high.

Auckland continue to tinker with their team, this time Brad Cachopa was promoted to open with Shawn Hicks in at No.3 and Jeet Raval dropping down to No.4. Auckland sit in 3rd on the table with a 3-3 record and they only have Cachopa and Ferguson in the top-10 run-scorers/wicket-takers list; they are carrying a lot of players looking for form.

I've got a funny feeling that Jeetan Patel is warming into his work nicely and he's coming off a quality spell against Otago: 2/31 off 10 overs. Patel got the key wickets of Neil Broom and Jimmy Neesham, even if Neesham is yet to pass 34 runs in any of his 5 innings' so far.

CD's bowlers couldn't get the job done against Brownlie and Devcich, however it's hard not to like a bowling attack consisting of Seth Rance, Ben Wheeler, Doug Bracewell and Bevan Small. This is my low key favourite pace/seam attack at the moment.