Maiden century special for Bruce

The three-peat remains possible for Central Districts as they moved to within one match of making the domestic one-day cricket final after a 48-run win over Northern Districts at Pukekura Park on Saturday.

Having looked down and out a fortnight ago when they sat last in the Ford Trophy, the two-time defending champions won the play-off between third and fourth and now face Wellington on Wednesday to see who will meet Canterbury in next Saturday’s final.

Having thrashed Northern Districts by 227 runs just a week before, Central Districts had to work a lot harder seven days on but they still managed to come out on top thanks to three important innings from George Worker, Tom Bruce and Kieran Noema-barnett.

Worker, who is the competition’s top run scorer, continued his rich vein of form with 79 while Noema-barnett justified the faith placed in him by the selectors with a punishing lower order knock of 74.

But it was Bruce who shone the brightest as he scored his maiden list A century before he was caught at deep third man after playing a flick shot he instantly regretted.

‘‘It was pretty pleasing overall, especially to score a ton finally at Pukekura Park, it’s been a while coming,’’ he said. ‘‘It was really nice to do it in front of my home crowd and in a winning performance.’’

There were numerous highlights in the innings, not the least being the eight times he cleared the boundary, including once when he was caught be his father Steve on the terraces.

‘‘I never planned it,’’ he insisted. ‘‘It was quite funny because I could see mum’s face and she was smiling. I just couldn’t believe he actually took a catch, to be fair. But it was definitely a highlight and a highlight for him as well.’’

Bruce was not putting his feet up after the innings, opting to turn out for club side Stratford in their Twenty20 semifinal against New Plymouth Marist United on Sunday as he waited for the New Zealand squad to be named to face South Africa.