Central Districts failed to carry forward the momentum from their 78-run victory over Northern Districts in the opening game of the HRV Cup, as they crashed to a 50-run defeat against Auckland at Colin Maiden Park in the second game of the tournament.
Auckland won the toss and chose to bat, but got off to a poor start, losing Colin de Grandhomme in the second over. Jimmy Adams and Dusan Hakaraia added 31 runs for the second wicket to steady the Auckland innings. England imports Ian Blackwell and Michael Yardy then struck to remove Adams (23) and Colin Munro (0) in quick succession to bring Central Districts right back in the game. However, some handy contributions from Anaru Kitchen, who made 21 off 13 balls with two sixes and four, and Lou Vincent (27) carried Auckland to 154.
Central Districts got off to a poor start when Tim Weston was dismissed for a duck in the second over. Mathew Sinclair and Yardy failed to reach double-figures, and at 23 for 3, Central Districts were in trouble. Their innings failed to gather any momentum, and at 46 for 5, they looked in danger of being dismissed cheaply. Kieran Noema-Barnett and Kruger van Wyk tried to rebuild, putting on 38 runs for the sixth wicket. However once Noema-Barnett was dismissed with the score on 84, seamer Andre Adams ran through the lower order as Central Districts lost their last four wickets for 20 runs and were bowled out for 104 in just under 17 overs. Adams was the bowling hero for Auckland with figures of 5 for 20.