Central Districts joined Canterbury at the top of the Ford Trophy ladder with a victory over Auckland and the contrasting vibes in this contest provide plenty of notes. Central (3-1) dismissed Auckland for 165 with Mark Chapman (47 runs @ 127sr) and Rob O'Donnell (51 runs @ 57sr) being the only Auckland batters to score 20+ runs.

All five of Central's bowlers took wickets, led by Ajaz Patel's 3w @ 3.44rpo. Central finished their run-chase on 169/2 thanks to 50+ scores from Brad Schmulian (54 runs @ 86sr) and Dane Cleaver (53 runs @ 58sr). Will Young and Luteru Taylor were left not-out. All four Central batters hit a six in a Pukekura Park party.

Auckland are now 0-4 in Ford Trophy and 1-2-1 in Plunket Shield. Classic Auckland stuff here as three concrete behemoths and numerous cricket grounds aren't helping the Aces. After playing on the Eden Park outer oval for PS, Auckland were scheduled to play a bunch of games at Colin Maiden Park in FT. Colin Maiden couldn't handle lots of rain and Auckland's home games shifted to away trips.

Unfortunately for Auckland, they have been unable to rally in these away games. Rob O'Donnell is the only batter averaging 30+ in a small sample size and he is the only lad with two scores over 50. Mark Chapman is the only Auckland batter with a strike-rate over 90 and after three scores below 10, Chapman has churned out two scores over 20 in his last two outings.

Auckland may get Lockie Ferguson in for a few games, perhaps even Kyle Jamieson returns to domestic cricket at some point and this may align with Blackcaps being away. Auckland won't get any batting help though as Martin Guptill's absent and Glenn Phillips shifted to Otago. This leaves Chapman, Rob O'Donnell, Will O'Donnell and George Worker as the key Auckland batters.

The importance of those key batters is highlighted by a lack of bowling x-factor. Adithya Ashok is Auckland's leading wicket-taker with 6w @ 32.33avg/6rpo and his development is a funky wrinkle, although he is not a dominant force blasting through batting line-ups.

16 batters have scored 82+ runs so far and Auckland has five batters in this group, which is bolstered by being the only team to play five games (they batted in their no-result vs Northern). 16 bowlers have taken 5+ wickets and Ashok is the only Auckland bowler in this group. Will Somerville has been solid as per usual with 4w @ 25.5avg/4.85rpo, while it's been niggly for the seamers...

• Danru Ferns: 3w @ 44avg/5.5rpo

• Ben Lister: 2w @ 74.5avg/4.44rpo

• Sean Solia: 1w @ 68avg/6.8rpo

• Simon Keene: 0w @ 4.57rpo

Last summer Keene took 25w @ 14.28avg in PS and 2w @ 22avg/5.17rpo in his two FT games. This summer Keene has 5w @ 56.8avg in PS and he is yet to take a FT wicket, now wicket-less in his last three games.

While Brett Randell has been on the circuit longer than Keene, their success last summer makes for an interesting comparison with Randell moving from Northern to Central. Randell finished first for PS wickets last season with 31w @ 14.83avg and only played one FT game (1w @ 10.89rpo). This season Randell has 9w @ 29avg in PS and 6w @ 14.66avg in FT; nothing bonkers just solid mahi.

Central only have three batters in that group of 16 - two less than Auckland. Central has five bowlers in the group of 16 and all five have taken 6+ wickets so far...

• Seth Rance: 11w @ 9avg/3rpo

• Blair Tickner: 8w @ 15.87avg/4.20rpo

• Brett Randell: 6w@ 14.66avg/3.18rpo

• Ajaz Patel: 6w @ 17.66avg/4.29rpo

• Doug Bracewell: 6w @ 25.33avg/4.75rpo

Depending on your vibe, you may view this as better the Canterbury's top-five bowlers. Enjoy these line ups while they are battling in domestic cricket.

Patel averaged 35+ in his first five Ford Trophy seasons, 40+ in four of them. Patel played one game last summer and took 2w @ 13avg. This is Patel's first Ford Trophy averaging below 30 when playing more than one game.

Luteru Taylor is still playing cricket and he started with back to back ducks, before cracking 39* @ 186sr yesterday.

Brad Schmulian continues his underground king ascension. Schmulian has quietly played at least four games of PS in six consecutive summers, hitting a century in four of them and averaging 30+ in all of them. Schmulian is in the midst of his third PS averaging 40+.

Schmulian had to wait for his FT opportunities and he is on track to play at least four games in his fourth consecutive FT campaign. Schmulian averaged 50+ in two of his first three seasons and he has scored 85 runs @ 21.25avg so far this season, opening alongside Dane Cleaver in all four games. The balance of having Cleaver attacking while Schmulian goes about his mahi could help Schmulian gather runs and further his development, perhaps bumping his List-A average over 40 to join his First-Class average.

Will Young is averaging 40+ in FC and LA cricket. Young has centuries in PS and FT so far this season, to go with a century in County Championship during the winter, plus two ODI centuries vs Netherlands earlier this year. Something to ponder (FC | LA)...

Will Young: 110 games, 40.25avg | 83 games, 40.67avg

Luteru Taylor: 192 games, 41.78avg | 316 games, 45.71avg

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