Otago Country will go into today’s Hawke Cup zone 4 match against North Otago in Oamaru in a confident mood.
Country picked up eight competition points with a narrow first-innings win against Southland in Molyneux Park last weekend.
It was a couple of wickets away from bagging an outright win but Southland held on for a draw.
Keegan Russell (21 not out) and Jason Osborne (43 not out) held up its progress with an unbroken stand of 54 — the highest partnership in the match.
Otago Country has made one forced change. Pace bowler Toby Hart is unavailable. He snapped up six wickets in the second innings as Country pressed for an outright.
It was an impressive debut by the young man. He has been replaced by Otago Country stalwart and captain Sam Blakely.
Coach Rhiane Smith said Hart played really well.
"He was really fired up for it and had an excellent attitude," Smith said.
"All the bowlers did, to be honest."
The bowlers are likely to find some helpful conditions in Oamaru according to North Otago captain Jeremy Smith.
"I think it is going to be one of those games where, if you can get through the new-ball period, it is probably going to flatten out a wee bit and that will make life easier with the bat," Smith said.
North Otago had a disappointing 168-run loss to South Canterbury in Timaru earlier this month.
"We know we can do a lot better," Smith said.
"We’ve talked about those key moments that we lost in that South Canterbury game which made the difference.
"We’ve been working hard at training to get guys to perform under fatigue, so it will be good to see if we can improve on those things we fell short on."
North Otago bats nice and deep. No 6 Stephan Grobler has three Hawke Cup centuries and No 8 Quinn Wardle is an opening batter.
There is also a lot a versatility in the bowling unit.
Hawke Cup zone 4
Oamaru, 10.30am
Otago Country: Taylor Cumberland, Michael Goldstein, Sukhdev Singh, Cam Jackson, Jeremy Gray, Charanjeet Singh, Josh Shackleton, Tim Cotter, Kelan Smith, Tom Myles, Sam Blakely (captain).
North Otago: Jeremiah Shields, Nic Johnston, Amal Ashok, Tom Dempster, Jeremy Smith, Stephan Grobler, Regan George, Quinn Wardle, Scott Kitto, Blake James, Cameron Grubb, Jesse Valpy.
