The Volts coughed up 20 extras and it cost them the game against Canterbury today, the team going down by four wickets.
The home side posted what coach Dion Ebrahim felt was a winning score at Molyneux Park in Alexandra.
Hamish Rutherford rolled back the years with 52 at the top of the order. Glenn Phillips thumped 38 in his T20 debut for the province and Max Chu and Dale Phillips combined to smash 25 off the last over.
Their tally of 171 for five looked very defendable. And it might have been enough had it not been for some wayward bowling.
Andrew Hazeldine produced a nightmare nine-ball over which cost his side 24 runs. But he was not the only offender.
The Volts clocked 14 wides, two no-balls and four byes.
Canterbury opener Henry Nicholls compiled a classy 59 from 33 balls, and Cole McConchie’s innings of 39 was instrumental as well.
Zak Foulkes was the pick of the Canterbury bowlers with three for 33. He also clubbed a six to seal the win in front of a healthy crowd of just under 2100.
Ebrahim felt the Volts had let a win slip away.
"I thought the 171 we got was very much a winning total," he said.
"But we probably bowled six bad overs, which you can’t do against a quality side like Canterbury.
"We weren’t consistent enough with our lines. We know what works on this wicket, we’ve had enough practice.
"We’d spoken about it and planned for it, but we just weren’t able to execute."
Earlier, Rutherford was dropped second ball of the game and then crushed three of the next four deliveries to the boundary.
Jake Gibson perished early and captain Dean Foxcroft also went cheaply.
Glenn Phillips took some time to get set and waited ... waited for Will O’Rourke to drop short and he fair smashed it over wide midwicket for a big six. The Black Caps all-rounder looked in formidable form and was hitting the ball incredibly hard until he got done by a slower short-pitched delivery from Foulkes and holed out at midwicket.
Rutherford’s fine knock ended with a piece of brilliance by Nicholls. He hauled in the ball on the boundary, but had to toss it back in field before stepping out.He did it so well all he had to do was stride back in field and complete the catch. It looked easy but it certainly was not.
Llew Johnson suffered a similar fate. This time Bowes passed the ball back in field to Bevon Jacobs. Both batters were a couple of inches away from adding six to the score.
It put the brakes on the innings for a period but Chu and Dale Phillips got going at the death. Chu made a career-high 34 from 18 and Dale Phillips’ 32 from 16 help push the score past 170.
Nicholls got the chase off to a rapid start with a series of classical cricket shots.
But it was the fifth over where the wheels fell off for Otago. Hazeldine started with a no ball which ran away for four. He got clipped for three boundaries, sent a wide down to the rope for another four and even picked up a wicket. It was certainly eventful.
Travis Muller took two wickets in two balls to offer some late hope, but McConchie swatted Ben Lockrose for three consecutive fours next over to get the chase back on track.
