Coach hoping another game swings Otago’s way

Bad batch, good batch — that depends on your point of view.

But there is something going on with this season’s crop of balls.

Otago coach Dion Ebrahim has noted they are swinging more and that has made batting a little tricky.

There has been a run of some pretty low scores in the Ford Trophy.

Northern Districts thumped 381 for five at the Basin Reserve on Wednesday. Wellington replied with 348. But that game was an outlier.

First innings scores of more than 200 have been quite rare so far.

The bowlers have been dominating. For once it was not the spinners keeping the run rate in check, it was the seamers.

Seth Rance, Matt Henry, Brett Randell and Otago's Jacob Duffy are among the most frugal bowlers in the competition. Duffy and Rance have 11 wickets each, so they have been deadly as well and stingy.

Not to take anything away from that pair, but they have had help.

"Just looking at our games alone you’ll see that," Ebrahim said referring to the extra swing.

Duffy has been getting the ball to hoop nicely and Matt Bacon and Michael Rae have had their moments as well.

The other contributing aspect, Ebrahim said, was the batters have not adjusted. They seem to have adopted a risk profile which does not fit with the way the games are playing out. They are going too hard too early.

Otago tried to adapt in its last outing by shifting Dale Phillips to No 5 and moving Dean Foxcroft up to No 3.

Foxcroft is betted equipped to soak up early pressure and generally starts quite cautiously, where as Phillips likes to play his shots.

Neither was able to have much impact. Instead Hamish Rutherford came to the rescue with a fine knock of 76 not out against a quality and in-form Canterbury attack.

But the five-wicket win was set up by Duffy, who took three for 34 in another wonderful spell of bowling.

He got the ball to swing away from the right-handers and he even nipped it away as well. He picked up the key wickets of Henry Nicholls and Daryl Mitchell — two quality international players.

Duffy will be hoping the ball continues to bend through the air. He will spearhead the Volts’ attack in its list-A game against Auckland in Queenstown.

Otago has made one forced change to its line-up. Glenn Phillips joins the Black Caps test line-up and has been replaced by left-arm spinner Ben Lockrose, who might see some action.

The game is being played on a used surface and may suit a 3-2 split between seamers and spinners. But Otago may be mindful of some fragility in its batting and opt to play all-rounder Jake Gibson instead.

Ford Trophy

Queenstown, tomorrow, 11am

Otago: Hamish Rutherford (captain), Llew Johnson, Dean Foxcroft, Dale Phillips, Josh Finnie, Michael Rippon, Max Chu, Jacob Duffy, Ben Lockrose, Matt Bacon, Michael Rae, Jake Gibson.

Auckland (possible): George Worker, Sean Solia, Will O'Donnell, Mark Chapman, Robbie O'Donnell, Ben Horne, Simon Keene, Louis Delport, Danru Ferns, Ben Lister, Matt Gibson, Ryan Harrison.