Otago's prospects of reaching the twenty/20 final are held in place by a single thread.
The Volts wanted to secure a much-needed win against Canterbury in an HRV Cup game at the University Oval last night but were denied that opportunity when poor weather forced the game to be called off after just 12 overs.
The four points on offer were shared evenly, leaving Canterbury firmly entrenched in second place with 20 points from eight games and Otago in fourth place with 14 points.
If Canterbury wins one of its remaining two games, it will join Auckland, which leads the competition with 26 points, in the January 22 final.
Northern Districts (14 points) also cling to a slim hope of forcing their way into the final.
But both Northern Districts and Otago will need to win their remaining two matches and rely on Canterbury losing both its games.
Otago coach Vaughn Johnson was fed up with the run of poor weather which has resulted in three of the Volts' eight games being unable to be completed.
Earlier this week he spoke out about the need to scheduled reserve days. But last night he wondered whether the six-run loss against Canterbury in Timaru in December had come back to haunt his side.
Canterbury posted a challenging 198 for seven but a superb 77 from Neil Broom had Otago on track until a late flurry of wickets saw victory slip away.
"I can curse the weather but I'm also cursing that result in Timaru, because I think that has come back to bite us. That was the one we should have won.
"We just didn't play well at the finish and were in a position to win the game and didn't get across the line."
Last night's game began on time and Otago made a promising start, with Brendon McCullum and Hamish Rutherford combining to take 21 off the first two overs.
Rutherford, though, skied a shot on seven which brought Aaron Redmond to the crease.
The Otago one-day and four-day captain has not been himself this season and struggled to get under way.
He also robbed McCullum of the strike and ultimately that, as much as anything, contributed to McCullum's downfall.
He charged a delivery from Yasir Arafat but succeeded only in getting an edge through to keeper Reece Young. It was a sparkling innings of 33 from 25, but not the big score he would have been looking for.
Rain forced the players from the field with one ball remaining in the 10th over. Play resumed 1hr 15min later with the game reduced to 15 overs apiece.
Otago was 70 for two and it was a case of hit out or get out.
Unfortunately, it was the latter for the home side, with Craig Cumming and Redmond finding the fieldsmen in the deep.
In the 10min of action available, Otago lost two wickets for eight runs before rain forced the players from the field again. The game was called off shortly before 8pm.
