But the Otago Volts otherwise played second fiddle to the visitors yesterday as they were pummelled by 110 runs by the Wellington Firebirds in a Ford Trophy game at the University Oval.
Otago captain Hamish Rutherford had tipped the pitch to be a belter but he might have hoped Wellington would not feast on the Volts bowlers quite so much after being sent in to bat.
Led by centurion Rachin Ravindra, the Firebirds had three 100-run partnerships as they rattled up 392 for six, the second-highest List A score at the ground, before rolling the Volts for 282.
They scored in hunks, making the most of a Covid- and injury-decimated home bowling attack.
Young opener Devan Vishvaka set the tone with an entertaining 45 off 31 balls, adding 108 with Ravindra for the second wicket.
Ravindra and former Otago batter Nick Kelly (61 off 65) then added 105 for the third wicket, and it was clear a big score was not just likely but virtually guaranteed.
Composed left-hander Ravindra is waiting patiently for more opportunities with the Black Caps and enhanced his status with a wonderful third List A century.
He brought out all the shots — the full-blooded drive, the flick off the pads, the crisp pull — as he brought up the ton off 89 balls, including eight fours and three sixes.
Ravindra’s dismissal for 113 was a relief for Otago but arguably the worst was to come.
Wellington captain Troy Johnson and Logan van Beek thrashed an unbeaten 103 runs for the seventh wicket to threaten the ground innings record of 407 set by Otago against Central in 2019-20.
Johnson belted 78 off 47 balls (eight fours, three sixes) and van Beek 36 off 24, finishing with 22 off the last over bowled by Jake Gibson.
It was a rough List A debut for Andrew Hazeldine (none for 63 off six), and Ben Lockrose (none for 85 off 10) has doubtless had more enjoyable days, but at least the man behind the stumps had reason to smile.
Max Chu had a hand in all six dismissals — four catches and two tidy stumpings — to break the Otago wicketkeeping record of five set by Barry Milburn against CD in Oamaru in 1982-83.
Otago faced the reasonable challenge of scoring 7.86 runs an over, a relative doddle in T20 cricket but a formidable task in 50 overs, for victory.
Hamish Rutherford promptly dispatched the first, second, fourth and fifth balls of the innings to the boundary fence, and the Volts were briefly on track for an embarrassingly easy victory.
Rutherford naturally could not maintain that pace, but he did his bit with a welcome 63 off 51 balls, passing 4000 runs in List A cricket.
But what the Volts needed was a century-maker, and some really big partnerships, and while Rutherford and Chu (31) added 89 for the first wicket, neither could be found.
Dean Foxcroft (27 off 31), Josh Finnie (35 off 25) and Llew Johnson (28 off 33) nibbled away, and Lockrose hit a couple of booming sixes in his 27 off 24.
The end eventually came in the 43rd over as Luke Georgesen (four for 42) and van Beek (three for 66) led the Firebirds attack.
Otago and Wellington return to the University Oval for a T20 game on Sunday.
- Otago was beaten by Wellington by five wickets in a one-day game at the New Zealand under-19 men’s tournament at Lincoln yesterday.
Jacob (35) and Zac (29) Cumming got starts but Otago, which struggled to cope with spinner Kevin Weerasundara (five for 38), was dismissed for 164 in the 37th over.
Toby Hart then took three wickets to give Otago a sniff before Wellington chased down the target in the 32nd over.
WELLINGTON
L Georgeson c Chu b Muller 4
D Vishvaka c Chu b Gibson 45
R Ravindra c Chu b Gibson 113
N Kelly c Chu b Mckay 61
O Newton st Chu b Foxcroft 15
T Johnson not out 78
T Robinson st Chu b Foxcroft 12
L van Beek not out 36
Extras (7lb, 18w, 3nb) 28
Total (for 6wkts, 50 overs) 392
Fall: 1-5 (Georgeson), 2-113 (Vishvaka), 3-218 (Kelly), 4-258 (Newton), 5-262 (Ravindra), 6-289 (Robinson).
Bowling: T Muller 7-0-59-1 (3w, 1nb), A Hazeldine 6-0-63-0 (2w), J Mckay 7-0-68-1 (7w), J Gibson 10-1-68-2 (1nb), B Lockrose 10-0-85-0 (1w, 1nb), D Foxcroft 10-0-42-2.
OTAGO
H Rutherford c Johnson b Georgeson 63
M Chu c van Beek b Georgeson 31
D Foxcroft b Newton 27
D Phillips c Johns b van Beek 5
J Finnie c Robinson b Younghusband 35
L Johnson c Johnson b Ravindra 28
J Gibson c Snedden b van Beek 20
B Lockrose c Robinson b Georgeson 27
T Muller not out 16
A Hazeldine c Georgeson b van Beek 10
J Mckay c Johns b Georgeson 2
Extras (4b, 6lb, 8w) 18
Total (all out, 42.5 overs) 282
Fall: 1-89 (Chu), 2-117 (Rutherford), 3-139 (Phillips), 4-143 (Foxcroft), 5-193 (Finnie), 6-207 (Johnson), 7-227 (Gibson), 8-266 (Lockrose), 9-279 (Hazeldine), 10-282 (Mckay).
Bowling: L van Beek 10-0-66-3 (4w), O Newton 5-0-31-1, M Snedden 4-0-39-0 (2w), R Ravindra 9-0-55-1, L Georgeson 7.5-0-42-4 (1w), P Younghusband 7-0-39-1.
Result: Wellington won by 110 runs.
