The first stanza of Ford Trophy has finished with Auckland at the top of the ladder, one point ahead of Canterbury. As there were a few rained off games, Auckland finish the year with a 4-1 record and Canterbury have a 3-1 record. In the middle of the table are Wellington (2-2) and Otago (2-3) who are ahead of Central Districts and Northern Districts who each have 1-3 records.

Otago put up 273 runs in 49.3 overs against Wellington with Llew Johnson leading them for runs (78 runs @ 132sr). Dale Phillips (45 runs @ 65sr) and Max Chu (46* @ 112sr) boosted Otago's total, meanwhile Wellington enjoyed lovely service from spinner Nick Greenwood who took 4 wickets @ 4rpo. Liam Dudding (5.5rpo) and Adam Milne (3.5rpo) took 3w each.

Luke Georgeson continues his strong start to the season as Otago's skipper, snaring 4w @ 3.8rpo and dismiss Wellington for 159. All 4w were in Wellington's top order and Otago also had Jarrod McKay (3.6rpo) and Dean Foxcroft (3rpo) chiming in with 2w each. Logan van Beek was the only Wellington batter to offer resistance with the bat as he scored 65 runs @ 85sr.

Here are the best players for each team as we roll along…

Otago

• Dale Phillips: 224 runs @ 44.8avg/76sr

• Luke Georgeson: 175 runs @ 35avg/94sr | 5w @ 19avg/4.7rpo

• Llew Johnson: 160 runs @ 32avg/102sr

• Max Chu: 157 runs @ 39.2avg/103sr

• Matt Bacon: 10w @ 17avg/5.2rpo

Wellington

• Muhammad Abbas: 106 runs @ 26.5avg/85sr

• Tim Robinson: 100 runs @ 50avg/68sr

• Adam Milne: 7w @ 17.4avg/4rpo

• Peter Younghusband: 7w @ 21.7avg/5.1rpo

CD dismissed Canterbury for 204 runs with Ray Toole taking 4w @ 2.9rpo. Blair Tickner (4.8rpo), Josh Clarkson (4.4rpo) and Jayden Lennox (3.5rpo) took 2w each, while Rhys Mariu was the leading run-scorer for Canterbury with 41 runs @ 65sr.

CD enjoyed more 50+ scores from Curtis Heaphy (56 runs @ 66sr) and Jack Boyle (55 runs @ 87sr) as they fell short of their target to finish on 201/7. Zak Foulkes led the Canterbury bowling effort once again with 2w @ 3.7rpo and Fraser Sheat took 2w @ 2.1rpo in his first game of the season, after a nifty 14* @ 116sr with the bat.

Canterbury also had Matt Rowe playing his first game of the season and he took the wicket of Heaphy, finishing with 1w @ 4.3rpo. Rowe looks like the typical Canterbury seamer as he is tall and athletic, so hopefully we see him bowling alongside Kyle Jamieson, Henry Shipley and maybe even Will O'Rourke if the stars align. Sheat can never be overlooked as seamer though as he is averaging 27.18 in List-A bowling which fits snug alongside his 26.38avg in First-Class cricket.

Canterbury

• Chad Bowes: 283 runs @ 94.3avg/150sr

• Zak Foulkes: 87 runs @ 43.5avg/71sr | 8w @ 13.8avg/3.9rpo

• Angus McKenzie: 7w @ 13.1avg/3.3rpo

Central Districts

• Curtis Heaphy: 276 runs @ 69avg/72sr

• Brad Schmulian: 246 runs @ 49.2avg/92sr

• Jack Boyle: 238 runs @ 47.6avg/94sr

• Blair Tickner: 11w @ 17avg/5.5rpo

Auckland dismissed ND for 248 in 46.3ov with Jimmy Neesham (3.4rpo) and Louis Delport (5.6rpo) taking 3w each. Sean Solia took 2w @ 2.3rpo and Adithya Ashok continues to gather wickets, snaring 1w @ 5.7rpo which gives him a wicket in four of the five games so far. ND's batting effort was led by Henry Cooper (86 runs @ 79sr) and Brett Hampton (64 runs @ 108sr).

Hampton continues to build on his excellent LA batting record of 34.78avg/108.5sr through 69 innings, although Jimmy Neesham loves to have a whack as well and he top-scored for Auckland in their winning chase. Neesham scored 69 runs @ 128sr in a hefty middle order effort alongside Cam Fletcher's 67* @ 108sr and Simon Keene's 35* @ 159sr. All of which followed a typically brutal knock from Finn Allen (54 runs @ 186sr).

Auckland

• Michael Sclanders: 217 runs @ 54.2avg/79sr

• Will O'Donnell: 194 runs @ 38.8avg/73sr

• Jimmy Neesham: 69 runs @ 23avg/113sr | 8w @ 10.3avg/3.2rpo

• Lockie Ferguson: 7w @ 15avg/4.1rpo

• Simon Keene: 59 runs @ 29.5avg/118sr | 6w @ 11.6avg/5.3rpo

Northern Districts

• Henry Cooper: 219 runs @ 54.7avg/88sr

• Brett Hampton: 161 runs @ 40.2avg/117sr | 6w @ 29.5avg/5.7rpo

• Scott Kuggeleijn: 8w @ 28.1avg/5.7rpo

Blackcaps start their T20I/ODI tour of Sri Lanka this Saturday. Zak Foulkes and Tim Robinson are listed above for their respective teams, here is how the other emerging Blackcaps have performed in Ford Trophy...

• Josh Clarkson: 37 runs @ 9.2avg/57sr | 4w @ 43avg/5.3rpo

• Dean Foxcroft: 59 runs @ 11.8avg/70sr | 7w @ 29.2avg/5.9rpo

• Mitch Hay: 22 runs @ 5.5avg/44sr

• Nathan Smith: 44 runs @ 22avg/85sr | 3w @ 20.3avg/3.2rpo

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