Reigning State Twenty20 champions the State Central Stag lost to the State Wellington Firebirds in a rain affected match at McLean Park in Napier.
When play stopped as rain fall steadily, Central were 63 for four after ten overs, needing to be 83 to win on Duck-worth Lewis.
Wellington reached 160 off 20 overs after they lost the toss and were sent into bat.
It was a shaky start by the Firebirds who lost regular wickets including two run-outs. It was a 64 run partnership for the eighth wicket between James Franklin and Luke Woodcock that gave the scorecard some respectability.
Franklin top scored with and unbeaten 50 off 28, while Woodcock made a handy 29 not out.
Stags bowler Kieran Noema-Barnett took two for 26 with Ewen Thompson, Michael Mason and Marc Calkin chimed in with one wicket apiece.
Peter Ingram was the only Central batsman to make an impression hitting 28 off 21 as the rest of the Stags struggled.
A feature of the Firebirds defence was the thoughtful captaincy and clever field placing by Stephen Fleming who kept the pressure on and made the batsmen work for every run.
Graham Napier went for only 7 runs in his two overs, took the wicket of Mathew Sinclair and completed a run-out.
State Twenty20 MVP »
State Twenty20 Points table »
