Jimmy Neesham's century propels the Wellington Firebirds into the Ford Trophy final

The second century of Jimmy Neesham led the Wellington Firebirds to the Ford Trophy final.

They will face his former team, the Otago Volts, at Oval University Dunedin Saturday in the standings, after defeating the Auckland Aces by three wickets in the final eliminations Wednesday.

Neesham did not finish with 120 balls on 107 balls at Eden Park Outer Oval, having arrived at the 18 stunt with the 86-3 Firebirds in pursuit of 237 to win.

They have never been behind the eight balls in their innings, but have lost wickets at regular intervals, which made the match tighter than they would have liked.

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Neesham finished the pursuit with style, hitting Danru Ferns for six on the side of the legs in the 49th.

The Aces were in trouble just after their captain Craig Cachopa won the draw and chose to fight, losing Ben Horne for two goals on second and Sean Solia for a fourth-place goal, both of which were eliminated. Bowling by Ollie Newton, Michael Bracewell Cover and Goalkeeper Lauchie Johns respectively

Cachopa himself then entered the sixth match, LBW against Newton for 15, and the right-seamstress grabbed a fourth when he managed to make Colin Munro lose the danger, leaving Auckland 44-4, leaving two balls in 10th place.

Neesham joined the group, strangling Mark Chapman at 14, but from 58-5, the Ace started fighting, through Rob O Donnell and Graeme Beghin.

The two men shared a 115-point stand for the sixth wicket before Beghin left for 69, caught up by the legpinner Peter Younghusband, who also captured O Donnell for 54 points shortly after, caught by the Firebirds captain Hamish Bennett at midwicket.

The Aces had reached 173-7 at that time, with 11 left to play, and while their tail added 63 extra points, they did not last 50 withdrawals.

Danru Ferns added 19 and Matt McEwan finished with 33 out of 32, while Newton threw the ball to Ronnie Hira to claim the second five-day bag of his career finishing at 5-47.

Wrestler left arm Ben Lister pushed the Firebirds early in the game to give Andrew Fletcher the advantage, opening prolificly, to give goalkeeper Horne a simple shot, then to Jakob Bhula in the same way, four times later.

Devon Conway and Michael Bracewell straightened the ship until he was 42, caught and beaten by left-arm spinner Ronnie Hira, who was the choice of Aces bowlers and finished with

Bracewell became Lister's third out of 41, leaving the Firebirds 128-4 just past the mid-point of the innings.

By that time, Neesham was beginning to take control of the hunt and he was already over 50 when Malcolm Nofal joined him. He had 28 balls to clear his way to eight before giving Munro a comeback.

McEwan removed the new Younghusband man for a duck, setting a tense finish, as the Firebirds still needed 57 balls for 67 balls with only four wickets in hand.

Neesham began his century at the end of the 45th round, sweeping Hira up to the edge of the deep square leg, but lost three balls later, and six for Johns.

From there, Neesham took full control and, even though he offered half a chance with 12 points, the Firebirds reached their goal with 11 bullets to spare.

The Firebirds finished second after the Ford Trophy round robin, but dropped the organizational rights to the elimination final, with the Pool Reserve unavailable and the Westpac Stadium deemed too little known. not harmed.

At Eden Park Outer Oval, Auckland: Auckland Aces 236 at the poster (Graeme Beghin 69, Rob O Donnell 54, Ollie Newton 5-47) defeated by Wellington Firebirds 237-7 in 48.1 (Jimmy Neesham 120no, Ben Lister 3-51) by three wickets.

Ford Trophy Final: Otago Volts – Wellington Firebirds; Oval University, Dunedin; Saturday, 11am