Northern Districts beat Canterbury by three wickets with a ball to spare in a thrilling State Shield finish at Taupo today.

A magnificent innings of 91 not out by Scott Styris sealed the victory.

With 14 needed from the last over it seemed that ND's chance had gone. The return of opening bowlers Chris Martin and Stephen Cunis had strangled the revival of the ND innings brought about by Styris and skipper Robbie Hart in a seventh wicket partnership of 76, an ND one-day record against Canterbury.

Styris was in strike at the start of the final over. He sent the first two balls soaring onto the embankment for six, over wide long-on and the sightscreen respectively. A single levelled the scores with three balls to spare, leaving Graeme Aldridge to face.

The field came in, forming a tight circle. Aldridge blocked his first ball. The second was hit straight to Paul Wiseman at mid-off. The batsman set off for a single, expecting a run out, but ensuring that Styris would face the final ball.

But an aghast Wiseman let the ball through his legs to give victory to ND. The fielder walked off the park rehearsing the throw that should have kept his team in the match.

On a day when the impending selection of the TelstraClear Black Caps World Cup squad was on everybody's minds, Styris has done his chances nothing but good. He displayed immaculate technique, he can keep the scoreboard ticking over by working the ball around the field and his judgment of which delivery to hit out at is utterly reliable.

Most important of all, he keeps an ice-cool head in a crisis, a quality that a side needs in World Cup matches. He also took two for 32 from eight overs.

If Styris is selected it could be at the expense of Craig McMillan, who must have deeply regretted making the short journey from the Black Caps' hotel in Napier to play in this game in a quest for some sort of form.

He scratched around with uncharacteristic diffidence for a 16-ball two before falling leg before wicket to Joseph Yovich.

Of the other contenders, Chris Harris also had a good day. He top scored for Canterbury with 45 from 75 balls, an innings the quality of which was evident only when it became clear how difficult scoring was for the batsmen of both sides.

Harris also showed that he is still the king of change of pace, capturing two more caught and bowleds off batsman bamboozled into thinking that the ball was somewhere that it was not. He took two for 29 from his 10 overs.

Canterbury chose to bat first on the pitch that did not deliver what it promised in terms of batting quality.

Their scoring rate in the first few overs was as high as at any point of the innings, largely due to problems with Yovich's bowling radar. His first over consisted of 11 deliveries and there were 23 wides in a total of 31 extras, the third-highest score in the Canterbury total of 196.

At the halfway stage the visitors seemed set for a score well in excess of 200, but the left-arm spin combination of Matthew Hart and Bruce Martin imposed a stranglehold from which Canterbury never recovered. They conceded only 66 runs from their combined 18 overs, all bowled in the second half of the innings.

The ND innings failed to get momentum as first the opening attack of Cunis and Martin, and then the slow combination of Wiseman and Harris, bowled with accuracy and intelligence.

At 107 for six it seemed all over for ND, but it was then that Robbie Hart and Styris began to work the ball around, scampering singles, turning ones into twos and mixing in the odd boundary hit. Styris faced 105 balls and hit four fours and four sixes.

Northern Districts coach Bruce Blair told CricInfo that Styris had played a fantastic one-day innings.

"It had tempo and pace. For a long time we were behind the asking rate, but he kept things ticking over and hung in there," he said. "It was important that one of the top four stayed there, which is what Scotty did."

Blair suggested that the vital role played by Robbie Hart in supporting Styris could be repeated at international level.

"Robbie plays so well under pressure. People dismiss his one-day ability, but he has a lot of skills with the bat. He can work the ball around, he can pick up singles and he can hit the ball, he said.

Blair praised the role of spinners Bruce Martin and Matthew Hart in containing the Canterbury batsmen.

"They both bowled really well. Matthew Hart also bowled exceptionally well in the last game in Auckland with good change of pace on a slow pitch. In tandem they really put the brakes on today," he said.

The win puts ND level on points with CD on top of the State Shield table. Canterbury are on the bottom, with two defeats from two games.

ND play Wellington at the Basin Reserve on January 2 while Canterbury play Auckland at Eden Park Outer Oval.

© CricInfo