Clutch
You want your game-breakers involved during the key moments. In the abbreviated form of the game, that is pretty much every minute.
Runs, not wickets, win twenty/20 games, so no experimenting with the batting line-up by using a left-hander to exploit short boundaries or pinch hitters to attack the slow bowlers. Just stick your best two batsman at the top and let them face the bulk of the available deliveries.
Otago should be well-served by openers Aaron Redmond and Hamish Rutherford. Until March, Rutherford had been typecast as a specialist twenty/20 player but scored back-to-back hundreds in a first-class game and a double century to end the summer. He strikes the ball wonderfully. And Redmond is one of only a few New Zealand batsman with a twenty/20 century to his name.
Otago overseas player Ryan ten Doeschate might be worth a look at the top as well. He's hit two twenty/20 centuries but does not arrive in Dunedin until mid-December and will miss Otago's opening two games.
Fielding
Until the advent of one-day cricket, sloppy fielding was common if not almost expected.
Now there is no hiding down at fine leg. Everyone has to be able to field, and a good unit can be the difference between winning and losing.
Otago has been lucky to have the McCullum brothers roving the field, pulling in athletic catches and effecting stunning run outs. But Brendon will be too busy with the national team this summer and older brother Nathan will miss a good part of the season as well.
Wicketkeeper and captain Derek de Boorder will lead the fielding effort and there are probably a few players he would like to hide down at third leg.
Death bowling
Perhaps that should read: the death of bowling. In test cricket the bowlers reign supreme. In twenty/20 they are fodder.
There are too many bowling restrictions to make for an even contest between bat and ball but some people just want to see sixes hit and lots of them.
To help facilitate this, the boundaries have shrunk, the bats are enormous and poor sods who trundle in like a schoolboy off to the headmaster's office have precious few options other than to "hit the hole" with a yorker.
Otago has laboured in that area. Leading Volts bowler Neil Wagner struggles with the white ball, and Jimmy Neesham and Ian Butler were both expensive last season. Eighteen-year-old seamer Jacob Duffy made a promising debut and spinners Nick Beard and Mark Craig will be key during the middle overs.
Boundaries
According to Guardian writer Barney Ronay, we have entered the age of the six.
"The six is no longer a variation, a tactical oddity, but an end in itself, the basic unit of success in twenty/20 cricket," Ronay wrote.
If that is the case, Otago should count itself lucky as it has impressive batting depth and plenty of hard-hitting batsmen in the line-up.
Redmond and Rutherford both hit their share of boundaries. Butler is capable of some towering sixes, Neesham has superb timing and Michael Bracewell likes to dominate as well. Neil Broom needs time to get set but can be punishing once established. Pretty much everyone is good for a few runs, perhaps even a six.
