The Otago teams can return to the top of the Super Smash standings with positive results in Palmerston North tomorrow.
Both the Volts and the Sparks notched wins in their last outing and took pole position briefly.
The unbeaten Wellington Blaze regained the lead with an eight-wicket win against the Central Hinds at the Basin Reserve on Thursday, and the Central Stags edged the Wellington Firebirds in a last-over thriller later that night to leapfrog the Volts.
The Sparks’ strong form is no surprise. They are unbeaten in the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield and, apart from a hiccup in the opening game against Canterbury, have found some touch in the T20 format as well.
They edged the Hinds by one-wicket in a tense, low-scoring fixture in Alexandra on New Year’s Eve.
Spin duo Eden Carson (three for 19) and Kirstie Gordon (two for 16) starred with the ball and Gordon clipped the winning runs with a ball to spare.
The Hinds have home advantage for the rematch and will lean on their talented bowling duo of Rosemary Mair and Hannah Rowe to squeeze the Sparks, while English professional Hollie Armitage has scored 143 runs at average of 47.66 and will be a threat.
The Sparks’ bowling unit is a nimble one, strike bowlers Emma Black and captain Hayley Jensen having being doing a good job at the top.
But Otago can pivot to their long list of slow bowlers if the conditions suit.
Carson and Gordon have 15 wickets between them, but Felicity Robertson and Anna Browning can be useful as well.
Star batter Suzie Bates is unavailable for the fixture — she is attending a family wedding — and has been replaced in the lineup by left-armer PJ Watkins.
While the Sparks are delivering about what you would expect from a quality lineup, the Volts have arguably over achieved.
They do not have the star power some of their opponents boast. But collectively they are playing decent cricket.
They edged Canterbury first-up, were robbed of a win against Auckland when rain shut the game down and beat Canterbury in the return fixture at Hagley Oval on Tuesday.
Dean Foxcroft anchored the chase with an unbeaten 60 and he has been valuable at the bowling crease as well, nabbing seven wickets so far.
Andrew Hazeldine claimed two wickets in the powerplay and opener Dale Phillips made a crucial contribution with 45 from 28 balls.
Tom Bruce is striking at almost 200 this season. Jack Boyle whacked 77 in the win against Wellington on Thursday, and Dane Cleaver is a dangerous batter.
Volts coach Ashley Noffke has named an unchanged lineup. He is pleased with the way his side is building.
"We are certainly improving, but there are definitely parts of our game we need to improve and we are seeing signs of that," he said.
The batting lineup has been focused on improving how it plays the spinners. Tomorrow that means finding a way to take the game back to Jayden Lennox and Angus Schaw.
"We’ve definitely got to play them well, but they have a pretty experienced bowler in [Blair] Tickner, who did well against us in the last game."
Super Smash
Otago teams
Otago Sparks: Bella James, Olivia Gain, Felicity Robertson, Caitlin Blakely, Polly Inglis, Anna Browning, Hayley Jensen (captain), Kirstie Gordon, Eden Carson, Emma Black, Molly Loe, PJ Watkins.
Otago Volts: Dale Phillips, Jamal Todd, Llew Johnson, Dean Foxcroft, Leo Carter, Luke Georgeson (captain), Max Chu, Ben Lockrose, Andrew Hazeldine, Matt Bacon, Mason Clarke, Ruben Clinton.
