Cricket: Otago charges into semifinal with fine win

Brendon McCullum
Brendon McCullum
Having gone 20 years without a major trophy, Otago is not ready to loosen its grip on the one-day title it earned last year.

The Volts secured a spot in the semifinal with an emphatic 63-run win over Central Districts at Pukekura Park yesterday.

The defending champion posted 311 for eight.

It was its equal second-highest one-day score, matching the 311 for three it scored against Auckland in the State Shield final last year.

Central's chase laboured after losing early wickets, but a fine hand by Mathew Sinclair (68) and Ewen Thompson (40) helped the home side salvage some credibility, guiding the total to 248.

Meanwhile, Northern Dist-ricts will host the final courtesy of an impressive seven-wicket win over Auckland at Eden Park Outer Oval yesterday.

Wellington and Auckland are no longer in contention but the hopes of Central Districts and Canterbury remain alive.

Central will need to win its remaining round-robin match against Auckland and keep its fingers crossed Canterbury loses its match with Northern Districts.

If Canterbury wins and Otago loses its game against Wellington in Invercargill this Sunday, Canterbury will get the home venue for the semifinal on January 28.

However, Otago's bonus-point win has given it a four-point buffer over the third-placed Canterbury.

Having missed out in his two previous innings for Otago this season, a relatively circumspect Brendon McCullum set about building a solid platform for the visitors, and posted 52 for the first wicket with Shaun Haig.

McCullum managed to score at a good clip, despite exercising some caution, and had reached 82 off 94 balls when he offered Peter Ingram a catch off the bowling of former Otago player Kieran Noema-Barnett.

Otago skipper Craig Cumming fashioned a majestic century against Canterbury in his last innings and picked up where he left off, stroking the ball into the gaps nicely.

He combined with Neil Broom for a 72-run stand for the third wicket before getting caught two runs short of a half century.

Broom scored 39 off 37 deliveries to keep the momentum going and Dimitri Mascarenhas enhanced his reputation as one of the best finishers in world cricket, plundering five fours and three sixes in an undefeated knock of 53 from just 27 deliveries.

Warren McSkimming chipped in with 17 off eight at the end to guide Otago past 300 runs.

Ewen Thompson was the pick of the Central bowlers, with three for 45 from 10 overs.

The rest haemorrhaged runs, with Brendon Diamanti's 10 overs costing 72 runs and Brent Hefford taking two for 57 from seven overs.

Central made a cautious reply, with George Worker and Ingram taking their time to get established at the crease.

But on 40 without loss, South African-born left armer Neil Wagner made a double breakthrough, nicking out Worker and bowling the out-of-form Jamie How for a first-ball duck.

Ingram and Ross Taylor set about repairing the damage. Taylor had scored 444 runs in his previous seven innings against Otago but was undone when Ian Butler enticed him into a mistake on eight.

Ingram went two balls later leaving Central reeling at 76 for four.

Sinclair kept fighting but was running out of partners, with Diamanti and Noema-Barnett going cheaply.

Thompson joined him and the pair added 82 for the eighth wicket but Central was never able to close the gap on the required run rate.

Wagner returned four for 39 and has been a real find for the province this season after it lost the services of another left-armer Bradley Scott, who transferred to Northern Districts.

Butler also had a good day, taking three for 50. And McSkimming aided his team's cause with two for 39.

Scoreboard
Otago

B McCullum c Ingram b Noema-Barnett 82
S Haig b Thompson 17
G Todd c Taylor b Hefford 26
C Cumming c Thompson b Worker 48
N Broom c How b Thompson 39
N McCullum c Diamanti b Thompson 9
D Mascarenhas not out 53
D de Boorder c How b McClenaghan 2
I Butler b Hefford 1
W McSkimming not out 17
Extras (4b, 1lb, 10w, 2nb) 17
Total (for 8 wkts, 50 overs) 311
Fall: 1/52, 2/103, 3/175, 4/185, 5/210, 6/257, 7/286, 8/287.
Bowling: E Thompson 10-0-45-3 (1w), M McClenaghan 8-0-58-1 (2w, 1nb), B Hefford 7-0-57-2 (5w), B Diamanti 10-0-72-0 (1w, 1nb), K Noema-Barnett 9-0-51-1, G Worker 6-0-23-1.

Central Districts
G Worker c McCullum b Wagner 25
P Ingram b McSkimming 37
J How b Wagner 0
R Taylor c Broom b Butler 8
M Sinclair c Mascarenhas b Wagner 68
K Noema-Barnett c de Boorder b Butler 3
B Diamanti b Butler 0
B Griggs c McCullum b Mascarenhas 28
E Thompson b McSkimming 40
M McClenaghan not out 10
B Hefford lbw b Wagner 2
Extras (18lb, 9w) 27
Total (all out, 49.2 overs) 248
Fall: 1/40, 2/40, 3/76, 4/76, 5/81, 6/81, 7/147, 8/229, 9/231.
Bowling: N Wagner 9.2-1-39-4, D Mascarenhas 10-0-44-1 (3w), W McSkimming 8-0-39-2 (2w), I Butler 10-1-50-3 (3w), N McCullum 10-0-52-0 (1w), C Cumming 2-0-6-0.

Result: Otago won by 63 runs.

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