Otago Volts

The long wait continues.

Jesse Ryder will be hunting his sixth hundred for Otago when day three of the Volts' Plunket Shield match against Wellington resumes today.

Otago coach Dimitri Mascarenhas had three words to describe his side's poor performance in the preliminary final against Central Districts in New Plymouth yesterday - ''Not good enough''.

Otago is just one win away from making its first one-day final since the 2008-09 season after beating the Northern Knights by three wickets in Queenstown on Saturday.

Otago all-rounder Sam Wells is still annoyed his side blew an opportunity to put Wellington away last week.

Call it a missed opportunity but Otago did not bat well enough to overhaul Wellington's middling total of 264 at the Basin Reserve on Saturday.

The one-day competition has reached the midway point and Otago is well-placed to make the playoffs.

The tooth hurts. The painful tooth. You can't handle the tooth.

A superb Josh Finnie cameo lifted the Volts to a thrilling five-wicket win against the Northern Knights at Mt Maunganui yesterday.

Otago made a better start to its one-day campaign than it could have possibly hoped for with a record win over Northern Districts on Saturday.

Unlikely improbable, impossible. All words tossed around to described Otago's prospects of securing a win in their Plunket Shield against Northern Districts at the University Oval yesterday.

At one stage a blanket of hail covered the playing surface. It was a bleak end to a bleak campaign in which the Volts managed just two wins and finished in last place.

Otago cannot make the playoffs, but it can play spoiler for someone else.

Otago is finally in the winner's column.

Four twenty20 games. Four losses. No points.

Otago's batting line-up had a fragile look about it and proved flimsy on the opening day of the Volts' Plunket Shield campaign.

Otago's plucky run chase unravelled in the space of two deliveries but all-rounder Sam Wells tried to stitch it back together with some brilliant hitting at the death.

Michael Bracewell has joined some pretty impressive company and must be wishing the Plunket Shield would never end.