They easily ripped through Canterbury’s batting line-up in the Ford Trophy game at the University Oval yesterday, dismissing the visiting side for 169.
Otago then found itself in shaky territory during its innings, struggling to get going through the middle stages until Michael Rippon (44 not out) and Jake Gibson (33) joined forces.
They put on a 62-run partnership for the seventh wicket to secure a three-wicket win for Otago.
The home team elected to bowl in a bid to emulate its success when fielding first in Sunday’s Super Smash game.
Michael Rae gave the Volts a great start when Canterbury opener Chad Bowes (4) edged Rae’s final ball of his opening over straight to Dean Foxcroft.
The fast bowler followed up with the lbw of Ken McClure (0) in his next over, leaving the visiting team 14 for two.
Then came more trouble for the men in red, when captain Cole McConchie (8) went down on one knee to try to sweep Rippon’s delivery only to be out lbw.
They were three big wickets early to give Otago some confidence and left it to opener Mitch Hay to pull back the innings.
He combined with Leo Carter to put on 35 runs for the fourth wicket to provide some stability.
Hay then went lbw in the 17th over, finishing with 42 off 50 balls, surpassing his previous list A high score of 24 runs.
His dismissal reduced Canterbury to 77 for four and Carter then took over anchoring the team.
He played a variety of nice shots to bring up his half-century. But right after raising his bat, he shuffled down the wicket to meet a Rippon delivery, missed, and was stumped by Max Chu.
Ben Lockrose bowled Cam Fletcher (51) in the 24th over and Josh Finnie followed by bowling young Zak Foulkes (0) in the next.
Former Otago Volts player Angus McKenzie was then dismissed for 12 by Finnie, and Blake Coburn clipped the ball off the top of his bat in the air and Chu caught him behind.
Rae returned in the 45th over to put Canterbury to bed when Will O’Rourke was caught in the outfield by Finnie.
It was a solid all-round performance for the home side’s bowlers, Rae leading the way with three for 35 off nine, followed by Finnie (two for 33 off 10) and Rippon (two for 44 off nine).
In reply, Otago captain Hamish Rutherford (9) hit boundaries off his first and third balls and looked to set the tone, before he clipped a Foulkes ball on to his stumps.
Chu grabbed another boundary in the 12th over but was caught by Bowes off the next delivery.
With a required run rate of 3.40, Otago seemed to be in a comfortable position.
But when Dale Phillips (7), Finnie (1), Foxcroft (26) and Llew Johnson (4) fell within eight overs, things began to tighten.
Rippon and Gibson entered to ease the tension and Lockrose (17 not out) played his part at the end.
- Otago fell to a 73-run loss to Auckland in the New Zealand under-17 boys tournament at Lincoln yesterday.
Auckland posted a big total of 282 for nine in its innings with Otago captain Henry Scott producing the side’s best figures of four for 51.
In reply, Otago was all out for 209. Samuel Duff (48) and Hugo Bogue (41) were the top scorers.
CANTERBURY
C Bowes c Foxcroft b Rae 6
M Hay lbw b Gibson 42
K McClure lbw b Rae 0
C McConchie lbw b Rippon 8
L Carter st Chu b Rippon 51
C Fletcher b Lockrose 12
Z Foulkes b Finnie 1
A McKenzie b Finnie 12
B Coburn c Chu b Bacon 11
W O’Rourke c Finnie b Rae 16
E Nuttall not out 2 (3)
Extras (3lb, 7w) 10
Total (10 wkts, 46 overs) 169
Fall: 1-8, 2-14, 3-42, 4-77, 5-99, 6-100, 7-125, 8-142, 9-163, 10-169
Bowling: M Bacon 8 overs, 2 maidens, 23 runs, 1 wicket (3w), M Rae 9-0-35-3 (3w), M Rippon 9-0-44-2 (1w), J Gibson 4-2-11-1, J Finnie 10-0-33-2, B Lockrose 6-0-20-1.
OTAGO
H Rutherford b Foulkes 9
M Chu c Bowes b O’Rourke 27
D Foxcroft c Nuttall b Coburn 26
D Phillips c Hay b McConchie 7
J Finnie c Foulkes b Coburn 1
M Rippon not out 44
L Johnson b McKenzie 4
J Gibson c Fletcher b Nuttall 33
B Lockrose not out 17
Extras (3w) 3
Total (7 wkts, 43.5 overs) 171
Fall: 1-12, 2-58, 3-67, 4-70, 5-76, 6-81, 7-143.
Bowling: E Nuttall 8-0-44-1, Z Foulkes 8-0-26-1, W O’Rourke 7-0-38-1, C McConchie 7-0-24-1, B Coburn 9.5-0-25-2, A McKenzie 4-0-14-1
Result: Otago won by three wickets.
