Northern Districts sit alone at the the Plunket Shield ladder after defeating Otago to grab their third win in four games of the first stanza. The other games both finished as draws with rain influencing results around Aotearoa as Auckland and Wellington batted once each in their draw, while Central Districts and Canterbury fought valiantly for a draw. Here's how the first stanza looks as the domestic cricket circuit enters a Ford Trophy flow...

1. Northern Districts: 3-0 | 58 points

2. Wellington 2-0-2 | 47 points

3. Central Districts: 2-1-1 | 43 points

4. Canterbury: 1-1-2 | 36 points

5. Otago: 0-3-1 | 20 points

6. Auckland: 0-3-1 | 17 points

Most Runs

• Sean Solia: 401 runs @ 57avg/46sr

• Henry Nicholls: 393 runs @ 78avg/58sr

• Nick Kelly: 316 runs @ 45avg/62sr

• Gareth Severin: 315 runs @ 45avg/50sr

• Joe Carter: 311 runs@ 62avg/51sr

• Dale Phillips: 285 runs@ 35avg/71sr

• Nick Greenwood: 262 runs @ 37avg/64sr

• Greg Hay: 259 runs @ 37avg/38sr

• Max Chu: 255 runs @ 31avg/48sr

• Mitch Hay: 248 runs @ 41avg/54sr

Most Wickets

• Scott Kuggeleijn: 22w @ 16avg/2.9rpo

• Nathan Smith: 21w @ 15avg/2.9rpo

• Jacob Duffy: 21w @ 18avg/2.7rpo

• Kristian Clarke: 17avg/3.8rpo

• Ray Toole: 17w @ 22avg/3.3rpo

• Brett Hampton: 16w @ 14avg/2.5rpo

• Doug Bracewell: 16w @ 16avg/2.6rpo

• Zak Foulkes: 15w @ 18avg/2.6rpo

• Fraser Sheat: 14w @ 19avg/2.2rpo

• Adithya Ashok: 14w @ 35avg/3.7rpo

Auckland vs Wellington

Auckland openers Will O'Donnell and Sean Solia both churned out centuries to help the hosts put up 500/8 declared. O'Donnell scored 102 runs and was the first to be dismissed as Solia went on to jack up 206 runs, with a dash of George Worker (52 runs off 54 balls) sprinkled on top. Peter Younghusband's 3w @ 3.5rpo forecasted how crucial spin would be as he led Wellington's bowlers along with Nathan Smith's 2w @ 1.7rpo.

Wellington were on 352/9 as the game wound up in a draw. Gareth Severin scored 143 runs and he had support from Nick Greenwood's 55 runs. Auckland's lefty spinner Louis Delport did most of the damage with 6w @ 2.7rpo and he was the only Auckland bowler who took 2+ wickets.

Along with his double-hundy, Solia also has two 50+ scores and is the only Auckland batter with 250+ runs this season. Like many of the best domestic cricketers, Solia played in the New Zealand A team who defeated Australia A across two legs of their series. Solia played in all four First-Class games and had three 50+ scores, as well as wickets in all four innings bowled of the two games in Australia.

O'Donnell had his first score over 50 for the season and despite a lean start to the summer, O'Donnell still has a healthy FC batting average of 36. The 26-year-old was joined by 23-year-old Severin and 24-year-old Greenwood as the intriguing younger lads scoring runs in this game. Severin registered his second 50+ score this season and Greenwood grabbed his third. Severin's quietly brewing with a FC average of 46 after seven games.

The injection of Delport into Auckland's bowling attack has boosted their mahi, as well as highlighting how important spin is to Auckland. Delport has only played two games and is already third for Auckland wickets, while also being Auckland's only bowler with 3+ wickets who is averaging under 30. Adithya Ashok is the leading wicket-taker for Auckland and he is the only Auckland bowler with 100+ overs bowled (133ov) while Delport has already churned out 61.4ov as their third busiest bowler.

Central Districts vs Canterbury

Batting first in Nelson, Canterbury scored 225 with Matthew Boyle getting an early advantage in the battle of the Boyle brothers who opened the batting for either team. Brett Randell snared 4w @ 1.4rpo for CD and Blair Tickner took 3w @ 2.3rpo, before the Canterbury seamers had their turn with the ball. CD put up 177 in reply as no batter scored over 40, while Will O'Rourke took 3w @ 1.6rpo and Angus McKenzie took 3w @ 3.5rpo.

Canterbury mustered 320 runs in their second effort with Zak Foulkes hitting 50 and McKenzie offering 53 runs. CD's lefty seamer Ray Toole took 6w @ 4.7rpo. Older bro Jack Boyle scored 72 runs opening for CD along with Dane Cleaver's 60 runs and 59* from Doug Bracewell as CD tried to chase down 369 for victory. CD were on 256/8 when this game ended as Canterbury's O'Rourke took 3w @ 3.1rpo.

Boyle Bros Battle

• Jack: 93 runs (21, 72)

• Matt: 95 runs (54, 41)

Zak Foulkes this summer: 192 runs @ 27avg, 2 x 50 | 15w @ 18avg/2.6rpo. Foulkes is joined by Mitch Hay and Henry Nicholls as Canterbury batters with at least two 50+ scores this season. Hay is the leading run-scorer for wicket-keepers this season and Dane Cleaver isn't far behind on 235 runs @ 39avg.

This game featured the best seamers in Aotearoa. Toole, Bracewell, Foulkes and Sheat are all in the top-10 for wickets. Toole is the only one in this group averaging over 20 (22.4avg). Randell has 12w @ 23avg/2.8rpo, Tickner has 12w @ 29avg/3rpo and O'Rourke has 9w @ 18avg/2.3rpo in his two games with these three lads just outside the top-10 for wickets. McKenzie is showing his value with 8w @ 27avg/2rpo along with his first 50+ score in FC cricket.

Patel departs for Blackcaps Test cricket with 13w @ 31avg/3.3rpo as CD's busiest bowler. Patel has taken a wicket in seven of his eight innings bowled.

Northern Districts vs Otago

ND went down to Dunedin and snatched a win from the hosts, after scoring 117 runs in their first innings. Jacob Duffy took 3w @ 3.4rpo to send three of ND's top-four batters back to the sheds, then Luke Georgeson took 4w @ 3.7rpo to wrap up the innings. Otago responded well with 240 runs thanks to 70 runs from Dale Phillips, while Brett Hampton took 7w @ 2.1rpo for ND.

Despite 6w @ 3.2rpo from Duffy, ND worked their way to 336 runs. Bharat Popli hit 52 runs and Joe Carter scored 98 runs as they grabbed every run they could to set Otago a target of 214 runs. Georgeson offered the most resistance with 55 runs for the hosts, but 2w @ 3.3rpo up top from Scott Kuggeleijn, 3w @ 3.2rpo from Zak Gibson and 4w @ 2.5rpo from Neil Wagner sealed a win for ND as they dismissed Otago for 179.

Wagner has 5w @ 24avg/2.6rpo in his two games this season. His haul of 4w against Otago not only offers a dose of wickets before joining the Blackcaps Test squad, he took three wickets in a couple of overs to ensure victory for ND.

Carter has a 50+ score in all four games of the first stanza and he is the only Plunket Shield batter with four scores over 50 this season. Otago's best batter is Phillips and he has three scores over 50 as the only Otago batter with at least two scores over 50.

Duffy has twice as many wickets as Otago's next best bowler Matt Bacon (9w @ 44avg/3.5rpo). Duffy has also bowled the most overs for Otago with 141ov and this puts Duffy as the busiest bowler in Plunket Shield's first stanza.

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