Cricket: 'Grade two' telling off for Volts players

Otago coach Vaughn Johnson described it as a "grade two" telling off.

Word is the tirade lasted an hour and contained quite a few home truths.

The subjectno surprisewas the Volts' humiliating capitulation on day three of their Plunket Shield game against Central Districts.

Otago lost eight second-innings wickets for just 26 runs in a terrible hour of cricket. Central went on to win the game by five-wickets.

While Johnson said he could not fault his team's efforts on the last day to make good after its batting collapse, he was still making his way through the disappointment of Sunday's effort.

However, a raft of changes are unlikely.

"Look, there is no point making wholesale changes just for the sake of making changes," he said.

"You have to make sure the players coming in are better.

"Some of the players who have been missing out have good records and deserve a chance to work through it."

Getting the balance right has been a delicate process for Johnson this season. He dropped Aaron Redmond as the one-day and four-day captain to allow the former Black Cap the opportunity to focus on returning to form with the bat.

The right-hander has had a torrid season but got starts in both innings with scores of 15 and 20. Whether that is enough to retain his spot for the game against Northern Districts in Hamilton beginning on March 2 is unclear.

Michael Bracewell and Neil Broom have also had lean runs.

Darren Broom was 12th man and is probably first in the queue, while left-hander Hamish Rutherford replaced Redmond in both the one-day and twenty/20 squads.

Experienced Warren McSkimming picked up a quad strain and was only able to bowl seven overs in Central's second innings. He will be sidelined for the next "two to three weeks".