Central are still the only undefeated team in the Ford Trophy after they sealed back to back wins over Wellington and have now booked a spot in next weekend's final. Wellington still sit in second despite the two losses and must now wait for third-placed Auckland to play Otago tomorrow and Central on Thursday. Auckland are tied with Northern on points but have a superior net-run-rate, plus two more games while Northern are finished.

Otago and Canterbury are stuck at the bottom of the ladder to wind up their FT campaigns. Canterbury finish with a 1-5 record following two losses against Auckland over the weekend and Otago followed up their loss to Northern with a 1-run win yesterday in Whangarei, to finish with a 3-4 record. As Central are the most interesting FT team and Auckland have the most to play for, I'll keep the focus on them today.

I covered the Friday games of this double-banger weekend here…

In another reduced-overs game at Pukekura Park, Wellington put up 191/8 in their 32 overs with Jakob Bhula hitting 50 (89.28sr) and Adam Milne leading Central's bowlers with 3w @ 5rpo. Central reached 194/8 in 24.5ov thanks to Brad Schmulian's 48 runs (129.72sr), Luteru Taylor's 50 runs (161.29sr) and Tom Bruce's 47* (142.42sr). Central essentially repeated their smacking boundaries mahi from the Friday game.

Twilight Taylor is extremely funky right now. Back to back games at Pukekura Park resulted in scores of 111* and 50 for Taylor, which now has Taylor ranked 9th for FT runs after just four games. The next best Central batters are Josh Clarkson and Will Young who are ranked 20th and 21st, plus Taylor is the only Central batter with 150+ runs.

Taylor also has the highest strike-rate of all FT batters with 100+ runs (160.44sr). While this is why Twilight Taylor is so fun, this is not special for Central's batters as they are all tonking boundaries via some Pukekura Park love and clear intentions to whack boundaries. The highest strike-rate list for all FT batters features a heavy dose of Central players...

Adam Milne: 2nd - 69 runs @ 191.66sr.

Luteru Taylor: 5th - 215 runs @ 160.44sr.

Doug Bracewell: 6th - 102 runs @ 154.54sr.

Tom Bruce: 9th - 126 runs @ 124.75sr.

Bayley Wiggins: 12th - 131 runs @ 119.09sr.

Josh Clarkson: 15th - 149 runs @ 114.61sr.

Will Young: 19th - 147 runs @ 108.08sr.

The final will be played in Queenstown, so Central will either have to maintain their slugging or adjust to a block of pitches that is getting plenty of use and has larger boundaries. Young's two FT games prior to the first Test against South Africa point to the Central vibe as neither game was at Pukekura Park and Young scored freely.

First was his knock of 107 @ 97.27sr in Palmy where Bruce smacked 50 runs @ 128sr and Bracewell cracked 144.8sr. Then Young hit 40 runs @ 153.84s in Dunedin, alongside Bayley Wiggins' 80 runs @ 125sr and Milne's 50 runs @ 238sr. Pukekura Park is a Central slugging fortress and there are other signs pointing to a more comprehensive attacking vibe within this Central line up.

Seth Rance took 1w @ 4.83rpo yesterday and is 2nd for FT wickets with 11w @ 10.72avg/3.97rpo. Central are unlikely to have Blair Tickner's 6w @ 14.83avg/4.81rpo for the final, but they are likely to roll out an impressive seam trio of Rance, Milne and Bracewell. Ajaz Patel has only played one game (2w @ 3.25rp) and Central can rely on Jayden Lennox for lefty-spin as he's stacked up wickets as well.

Lennox: 7w @ 20.57avg/5.57rpo.

Bracewell: 7w @ 25.71avg/5.8rpo.

Milne: 6w @ 18.83avg/5.13rpo.

The funkiest Central note is that the absences of Young and Tickner don't hold the Stags back. Central may also be without Patel and that's three Blackcaps taken out of Central's line up. They still have Taylor, Bruce, Bracewell, Milne and Rance as their core. Chuck in young batters Wiggins and Clarkson who are both eager hitters, plus the job-doing spin of Lennox and Central will be tough to beat in the final.

Auckland have plenty of oomph themselves. Their second game against Canterbury saw Leo Carter hit 58 runs as Canterbury reached 226/9 in 50ov with Lockie Ferguson taking 2w @ 3.57rpo, Will Somerville taking 2w @ 4rpo and Adithya Ashok taking 2w @ 5.30rpo. Thanks to Glenn Phillips going bonkers and cracking 122* @ 119.6sr, Auckland cruised their way to 227/4 in 37ov to seal back to back wins over Canterbury.

Phillips has flipped a switch after a solid but not peak G-Philly Super Smash (158 runs @ 31.6avg/146sr) which was boosted by 52 runs @ 152.94sr in Auckland's last SS game. Phillips had scores of 0, 41, 61 and 53* (129r) in Auckland's two Plunket Shield games and took 3w @ 1.92rpo which led me to highlight Phillips as Aotearoa's funkiest cricketer.

Since writing that yarn, Phillips scored 45 (145sr) and this swashbuckling century vs Canterbury. Phillips has also taken a wicket in each of these FT games as he continues to flex as a genuine all-rounder for Auckland. Phillips has now bowled 25ov in FT and 12.3ov in PS, which can again be served up alongside Mark Chapman's bowling for context: Chapman's bowled 6ov @ 8.33rpo in FT.

Auckland are well equipped to win these next two games and slide into the final. I poke fun at the Phillips/Chapman bowling balance but Chapman is in lovely form with his willow, scoring 283 runs @ 40.42avg/87sr. Auckland have combined PS and FT games over the past two weeks and Chapman hit 50+ scores in back to back PS games then a 64 in the next FT game.

Auckland have Martin Guptill (51.75avg), George Worker (49.42avg), Phillips and Chapman all averaging 40+ in FT. Auckland also have Lockie Ferguson quietly building another impressive domestic summer with 9w @ 13.33avg/4.44rpo, after taking 17w @ 16.11avg/7.24rpo in SS. Ferguson finished as Auckland's leading wicket-taker in SS and the next best Auckland bowler was leggy Adithya Ashok (14w @ 17.14avg/6.48rpo) which is now flipped around for FT.

Ashok is leading Auckland for wickets with 10w @ 26.50avg/5.63rpo and now has four consecutive games with 2+ wickets, 12w all up in these last four games. The combination of Ferguson and Ashok is enticing for Auckland, especially coming up against the Central batting line up in what is likely to be a must-win game on Thursday. If Auckland win that game, they will fancy Central again and the battle between Auckland's bowlers led by Ferguson and Ashok against Central's batting line up will be amplified as familiarity will be a factor.

Auckland must defeat Otago tomorrow first and foremost and this will be their third game at home in five days. Four of Auckland's last five games have also been at home. This should see Auckland win and set up the exciting Auckland vs Central match up on Thursday.

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