The Volts produced a sloppy effort in the field which possibly cost them a win against Canterbury at Hagley Oval on Saturday night.
The loss ended their slim prospects of slipping into the playoffs.
That means today’s match against Auckland at Eden Park Outer Oval is effectively a battle for the wooden spoon.
They will be hoping for an improved performance in the outfield after they grassed crucial catches during the six-wicket loss to Canterbury.
The Volts posted a middling total of 162 for five. The tally may have been defendable had they held on to several regulation catches.
Canterbury opener Chad Bowes was put down in the second over and went on to thump 31 from 19.
But the most telling fumble happened late in the game.
Otago had put the squeeze on the run rate and Cole McConchie made a mistake.
He hit a delivery from Nathan Smith straight to long on, where Nick Kelly inexplicably dropped it.
The Canterbury captain responded by hitting the next couple of deliveries for a six and four.
The game slipped away and McConchie went on to bring up his 50 from 36 balls and seal a playoff spot for his side.
Earlier, Hamish Rutherford used up a lot of luck getting to 23 from 15.
He had an edge drop short, another went for four and there was a French cut which would not make the highlight reel, either.
Finally, a leading edge proved his undoing.
Neil Broom got off to a much more convincing start. He cracked three boundaries off Ed Nuttall’s opening over.
The power play netted 52 runs for just the cost of Rutherford’s wicket.
Kelly added his name to the wicket column in the seventh over. He dragged a half-tracker from Todd Astle to Bowes, who made a nice catch diving forward.
Josh Finnie entertained with a 26-run cameo. He swiped a six down the ground and used the reverse sweep to find the rope.
There was a clever reverse lap which he made look easy as well.
Otago had set a good pace but Astle (two for 18) pulled back the scoring and got the key wicket of Broom for 48.
Anaru Kitchen added 36 but he struggled with his timing, while Dale Phillips contributed 22 not out.
Otago blew an early chance to strike in Canterbury’s reply when Finnie got under a towering miscue from Bowes, but could not lay a hand on it.
Ken McClure hammered 20 runs off the third over and looked set to play a menacing innings before he ran himself out for 33.
Bowes had started to accelerate after his hiccup. But he scooped a reverse sweep straight to Mitchell McClenaghan, having just hit two fours off Kitchen.
With two new batsmen at the crease, it was time to squeeze, squeeze, squeeze.
Who better to do that than left-arm wrist spinner Michael Rippon? He has been miserly all tournament and was stingy again, and picked up the wicket of Jack Boyle for 14, too.
The runs had dried up, the pressure was building and then wicketkeeper Max Chu struck with the help of some luck.
Daryl Mitchell took a stride down the wicket and missed. Chu could not glove the ball, but he got the ricochet off his body on to the stumps.
One more wicket then and the outcome could have been very different.
