Thomas O’Connor tucked away a pretty special milestone to help put Otago on the front foot.
The left-armer finished with career-best first-class figures of seven for 58 in a splendid opening day for Otago in their Plunket Shield clash against Auckland yesterday.
The 21-year-old, who is the son of former Black Cap Shayne O’Connor, came into the game with previous best figures of three for 38 from just his four first-class games for the Volts, and caused havoc for Auckland’s experienced batters.
‘‘It’s obviously pretty special,’’ O’Connor told the Otago Daily Times from Auckland..
‘‘A nice milestone and awesome to contribute to the team and I’d say a pretty good day for us as a whole.
‘‘Still plenty of work to do, but yeah, pretty stoked.
‘‘The ball was shaping around a little bit in the air.
‘‘The wicket had a bit of grass on it as well, so it [the ball] got a little bit of assistance off that too.
‘‘But yeah, apart from that, just trying to play the patience game as you do in the long format.’’
Auckland elected to bat first and were left questioning that decision.
Former Otago batter Dale Phillips was caught behind with the third ball and O’Connor then cleaned up Harrish Kannan.
Quick-hitting Bevan Jacobs took little time to get going and punched six fours and one six in his tally at the crease.
He was starting to ramp up when he edged the ball to Luke Georgeson at slip to make Auckland 82 for three in the 19th over.
Replacement Cam Fletcher soaked up four runs off 27 balls before he was removed by former Aucklander Danru Ferns.
Captain Sean Solia was the mainstay for Auckland, working hard for his shots. But he, too, perished to O’Connor for 60 after lunch which made the home side 124 for five in the 34th over.
Lachie Stackpole (36) clobbered six off O’Connor, but he was removed with the next delivery.
O’Connor then dismissed Simon Keene (5) four balls later, trapped Adi Ashok lbw, and with the following ball removed Rohit Gulati caught behind.
Ryan Harrison toiled away at the back end of Auckland’s innings, bringing up a half-century and keeping in the fight.
Ben Lister (six from 77) did his job at the other to help Harrison, but he, too, eventually succumbed to O’Connor and Auckland were all out for 228.
Jack Boyle and Jacob Cumming set Otago well in reply. Cumming was dismissed for 33 with Otago 54 for one.
Otago trail by 158 runs with nine wickets remaining.
■Central Districts thumped Northern Districts by an innings and 27 runs.
Northern were all out for 264 in their second innings in Napier.
Kristian Clarke was Northern’s best, bringing up his maiden first-class century. Ray Toole took five for 32 and Jayden Lennox snapped up four for 57.
The Wellington-Canterbury game was delayed due to rain. They got through three overs before stumps. Canterbury will resume on seven without loss today.
