Cricket: Horror start derails Volts’ run chase

Canterbury batsman Logan van Beek is beaten by a delivery from Otago speedster Warren Barnes in...
Canterbury batsman Logan van Beek is beaten by a delivery from Otago speedster Warren Barnes in their one-day match at Molyneux Park in Alexandra yesterday. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.
Otago was unable to recover from a calamitous beginning to its innings and slumped to a 65-run loss to Canterbury at Molyneux Park yesterday.

The Volts did the first part well. In front of a small crowd of 600 or so, they dismissed Canterbury for 228 and should have cantered to a win but were undone by a quality Canterbury pace attack.

And losing two wickets before they had registered a run was not particularly helpful either.

A 59-run ninth-wicket stand between Neil Wagner, who top-scored with 37, and Bradley Scott (15) helped the Volts claw their way to 163 to reduce the final margin between the sides.

''Losing a few early wickets up front stemmed the flow in a relatively small chase and that was not ideal,'' Otago captain Hamish Rutherford said.

''When me and [Jimmy] Neesham were at the wicket we looked like we could get the runs but losing both our wickets put us on the back foot again.

''Losing four wickets in the first 20 overs makes it pretty tough to win.''

The trouble started when Michael Bracewell was run out in the second over. He pushed the ball into the onside and took off for the single.

But Leo Carter scooped the ball up and hit the stumps. Anaru Kitchen played a half-hearted drive at the next delivery and got a bottom edge through to the keeper.

Neil Broom's dismissal in the ninth over was also crucial. He is the key batsmen in the Volts' line-up and his dismissal left Otago in tatters at 31 for three.

The Volts' best prospects seemingly rested with the fortunes of Rutherford and fellow lefty Neesham.

While the target was a long way off, the required run rate was not particularly demanding. What the situation called for was a bit of patience but both were found wanting.

Rutherford flinched first. He tried to drive a full delivery and got an inside edge on to his stumps for 36, and then Neesham (32) flicked a ball off his pads down to Matt Henry at fine leg. It was the defining period in the match.

Canterbury's fast bowling battery just kept coming. Bennett claimed both Rutherford and Neesham but Edward Nuttal also grabbed two wickets. Andrew Ellis and Logan van Beek took one each, while Henry, fresh from a successful two-game stint for the Black Caps, captured the important wicket of Broom.

Former Canterbury captain Peter Fulton was the only batsman to flourish on a pitch which was just a couple of metres to one side of the wicket which produced more than 600 runs on Sunday.

The 36-year-old right-hander looked at ease, efficiently dispatching a delivery from Scott back over the bowler's head for a boundary early on in his innings.

But with Canterbury's batting line-up leaner than usual, there was a lot riding on Fulton.

He played plenty of those trademark drives down the ground but eventually got out that way, driving a delivery from Warren Barnes straight into the giant mitts of Michael Bracewell at a short cover position.

He had inflicted 81 runs worth of damage but also exposed Canterbury's shaky middle order with the best part of 20 overs still to bat.

Right about the time Canterbury should have been kicking on, it was forced to rebuild and let the game drift for too long.

Wells got collared by Fulton early on but rebounded in his second spell (three for 15) to finish with three for 44 from 10 overs.

Wagner wrapped up the Canterbury innings when he found the shoulder of Bennett's bat.

Otago's next assignment is against Central Districts in New Plymouth on January 3.

 

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