Central Districts wrist spinner Tarun Nethula had no right taking wickets on the opening day of his side's Plunket Shield fixture against Otago in Lincoln yesterday.
Slow bowlers are meant to hide in the outfield and shirk bowling until conditions are more to their liking. They are certainly not meant to upstage the seamers on day one. It is a rule.
But the Indian-born leggy abandoned the script, taking a career-best six for 32 to help dismiss Otago for 207.
Central Districts reached 49 for one by stumps on day one and are in a commanding position thanks in no small part to Nethula's haul.
The 28-year-old got some assistance from the surface but also made his own luck with a disciplined display. He hit challenging lengths, bowled a good line, varied his pace and confused the batsmen with a scrambled seam and clever use of a wrong'un.
"He bowled well. He bowled a lot of wrong'uns, varied his pace and we were possibly just a little bit defensive to him," Otago coach Vaughn Johnson said.
"We probably need to be a bit more positive against him but we'll address that."
Johnson acknowledged his side had come up short with the bat.
"We didn't get a score and we needed to get two or three quick wickets [last night] to get back to even par," Johnson said.
"We've lost the sessions three-nil which just means we have to work hard [today]."
Otago started nicely with Craig Cumming and Brendon McCullum both scoring freely. But having seen off Central's opening attack of Michael Mason and Adam Milne, McCullum looked to force a drive and holed out at mid-off for 26.
Having snared the prized wicket of McCullum, right-arm medium pacer Carl Cachopa then trapped Aaron Redmond leg before wicket for four.
Cumming nicked out moments later to complete a miserable patch which saw three wickets fall for six runs.
Neil Broom and Sam Wells halted the slide with a 77-run stand for the fourth wicket to lift Otago to 127 for three.
Nethula, though, would ruin that relatively good position with a fine spell of bowling. He trapped Broom in front for 28 then took a return catch from the bat of Nathan McCullum.
But probably the key wicket was the dismissal of Wells. The all-rounder posted his second half century this summer and was firmly set at the crease but he was enticed into a sweep shot and was bowled for 57.
Nethula completed just his second first-class five-wicket bag by picking up the wickets of Derek de Boorder and Neil Wagner and celebrated with a sixth when Steven Finn was caught by Mathew Sinclair.
Otago got one breakthrough with Neil Wagner nicking out debutant Dean Robinson for 20. Nethula came in as nightwatchman and helped guide his side through to stumps. He will return today on two with Jamie How at the wicket with him of 27.
Tim Southee delivered a message that he is back to full fitness and raring to take on Australia, after ripping through Wellington yesterday.
The 22-year-old quick continued his comeback from a knee injury by taking seven for 37 to put Northern Districts in a dominant position. The Knights bowled out Wellington for 162 in two sessions at Lincoln, before cruising to 156-1 at stumps, trailing by just six runs.
Southee struck early and often against Wellington, backing up the four wickets he took against Auckland last week as he seeks match fitness ahead of a two-test tour to Australia next month.
He removed Wellington opener Josh Brodie for four, before new ball partner Trent Boult struck twice in the fourth over to remove Michael Papps (4) and returning Black Cap Jesse Ryder for a three-ball duck.
Stephen Murdoch and captain Grant Elliott stemmed the bleeding for the Firebirds, putting on a century stand for the fourth wicket, but from there on it was the Southee show.
He took the last six wickets in Wellington's innings to record his sixth first class five-wicket haul and bring his bowling average below 30.
In Rangiora, the trend of the day was reversed, Canterbury reaching stumps at a commanding 324 for five against competition leader Auckland, led by Black Cap Dean Brownlie's unbeaten century.
Kyle Mills struck in the second over of the day to claim the wicket of Rob Nichol, and the day looked evenly poised at lunch with Canterbury on 103 for three. But Brownlie and fellow Black Cap Reece Young (80) put on 171 runs for the fifth wicket to put the host firmly in charge.
