Northern Districts A have put in a strong performance in a three-day match against Central Districts A which has ended in a draw.

Scorecard

ND A made a fast start to the match after skipper Nick Kelly won the toss and decided to have a bat at Nelson Park in Napier.

After losing fellow opener Anish Desai early on for five, Nic Hendrie combined for a 110-run partnership with Kristian Clarke before the latter was run out for a classy 68 off just 72 balls. Hendrie then found further support from captain Kelly as the two put on 89 runs for the third-wicket before Kelly was bowled for 45. 

Hendrie continued to pile on the runs and was caught for an agonising 98 off 161 balls with the score at 247. Brett Hampton came and went for an entertaining 26 with Thorn Parkes departing shortly after for an equally-entertaining 32. Sandeep Patel and Peter Bocock took the score past 300 before the remaining four wickets were claimed for 43 runs, ND A finishing on 333 off 81.1 overs; a run-rate of 4.1 per over.

This left CD A with roughly 10 perilous overs to navigate before the end of play on day one. ND A took full advantage of this brief window of play, with Johnston dismissing both openers and Joe Walker claiming Brad Schmulian LBW to leave CD A 53/3 after 12 overs at stumps.

ND A continued their assault on the morning of day two, taking wickets at regular intervals to have CD A all out by lunch on day two. Joe Walker was the stand-out performer with the ball in-hand, taking 5-52 off 20 overs.

In a shake-up of the batting order, Kelly opened the batting alongside Hendrie but fell early on for five. This brought the also promoted Peter Bocock to the middle, who combined with Hendrie for an 80-run stand before Bocock departed for 55. This sparked a flurry of quick wickets, with Hampton, Patel and Clarke all coming and going shortly after Bocock with only 25 runs being added to the score.

Throughout all this Hendrie stood resolute and solid, putting together a quality innings with minimal fuss. He found Support from Desai, his opening partner from the first innings, as the two put on 72 before Foxcroft ran Desai out for 31. This didn't deter Hendrie however, and a short while later he raised the bat after scoring a wonderful century. He would eventually finish 106* as ND A declared after 66.5 overs at 232/6, setting CD A an improbable 413 runs for victory in just under a day.

The final innings started well for ND A, with Sean Davey removing Wiggins in the third over and Freddy Walker trapping Schmulian in front in the 10th, but that was as good as it got, with Smith and Foxcroft occupying the crease for the rest of the day to guide CD A to a draw.