An over remaining.
Eight wickets in hand.
A batsman on 80 at the non-striker’s end.
No way Otago loses from that spot, right?
Except, well, it did.
Wellington hung on for a dramatic one-run win at the Basin Reserve on Saturday.
Otago had done exceptionally well to get into such a healthy position.
The Volts rallied in the final 10 overs in the field to limit Wellington to 182 for one.
The target could have been much higher had it not been for some thoughtful bowling at the death.
It was an impressive scorecard for the home side.
Michael Pollard bludgeoned 70 from 40. Fellow opener Devon Conway carried his bat in a fine knock of 63, while former Otago player Jimmy Neesham was promoted up the order to finish the innings and clouted 47 from 32.
Wellington’s total looked a winning one. The Firebirds were the last team to chase more than 180 at the Basin Reserve and win and that was 12 years ago.
The Volts had a big challenge in front of them and it only got bigger when in-form opener Hamish Rutherford was caught and bowled for 12.
Ollie Newton picked up the wicket and the former Albion seamer had a tremendous match. His one for 18 was extraordinary in the context of the game.
He also bowled a wonderful penultimate over which helped keep the door ajar for the home side.
The Volts’ prospects looked bleak but experienced right-hander Neil Broom (66) and left-hander Nick Kelly (85) made the impossible look possible.
The pair put on a ground record partnership for the format. They added 150 to take Otago to the cusp of victory.
Kelly needed luck. He ought to have been run out having slipped midwicket.
Then he ended up racing Broom back to same end before changing direction again.
But when Broom was bowled last ball of the 18th over by Hamish Bennett, Wellington sensed an opening.
Neesham came on to bowl the last over. His first two overs had been pounded.
But when it mattered most, the Black Caps all-rounder came through with a couple of yorkers.
Kelly got under one of them but was caught at long-on, a metre or two short of the rope.
Josh Finnie went looking for a boundary as well but found a fielder in deep off the penultimate ball.
Dean Foxcroft was left needing three off the last ball. The ball was full and outside off but he swung and missed.
The pair ran through for a bye and Wellington sealed a tense one-run win.
Otago coach Rob Walter said the team was awfully deflated after the match.
"You would expect to win from the position we were in but that is T20 cricket, really," he said.
"Anything can happen at the end. But I think Nick and Neil played unbelievably well to get us there, to be fair.
"These are the toughest type of losses, for sure. It was a quiet changing room for a period after the game."
The Volts will take a break before reassembling on December 27.
Otago’s next assignment is against Northern Districts at Molyneux Park, on December 29, and it plays Canterbury the following day at the same venue.
