Otago had broad smiles for most of the day but some late wickets have taken the shine off a promising start to the Plunket Shield.
The Volts seam attack dismissed Canterbury for a paltry 155 at Hagley Oval yesterday.
But the home side fought back, getting rid of the dangerous Hamish Rutherford and veteran campaigner Rob Nicol with consecutive balls.
Neil Broom's departure late in the day means Otago will resume on 63 for three in need of a good partnership and some solid contributions from its middle order.
The visiting side has handicapped itself a little by going into the match with just four specialist batsmen. Anaru Kitchen was surprisingly left out of the starting side.
The Otago player of the year scored four first-class hundreds last summer but is carrying the drinks in this game.
The Volts are instead trusting all-rounder Jimmy Neesham to pick up the slack in the top order and he is certainly capable of scoring heavily.
Otago seamer Jacob Duffy had a rough season last summer. He was sent to bowling boot camp by the coach to work on his technique but that hard work appears to be paying off.
The 23-year-old Southlander picked up three wickets in a tidy 15 over spell.
He nicked out opener Jack Boyle to bring up his 100th first-class wicket and also grabbed the key wickets of Leo Carter and Michael Pollard.
Pollard, who has transferred from Wellington to Canterbury this season, made a strong start for his adopted province with 54. His effort was the backbone of a rather feeble innings.
Black Caps left-armer Neil Wagner, who took two for 47 from 20 overs, provided Canterbury's Tim Johnston with a salutary lesson.
He had just bowled a cracking bumper and then lured the batsman out of his crease for a chat.
Then, boom, he rolled in an underarm throw and ran the player out. That clip is already doing the rounds on the various social networks.
Johnston had hit Wagner for five boundaries during his 2-ball stay.
Rutherford got Otago's reply off to a nice start. He galloped through to 23 runs before he got an inside edge on to his stumps.
Canterbury's Fraser Sheat celebrated his maiden first-class wicket and his debut got a lot better moments later. He nicked out Nicol with his next delivery.
Left-arm leg spinner Blake Coburn struck with just his second ball in first-class. The rookie trapped Broom lbw for 13, leaving the visiting team with plenty to contemplate overnight.
Former Albion bowler Ollie Newton made a wonderful first-class debut yesterday, capturing three wickets in his first four balls.
The Wellington seamer eventually finished with four for 26 to help rout Auckland for just 62 at the Basin Reserve.
Veteran Wellington openers Michael Papps (163) and Luke Woodcock (64) then poured lemon into Auckland's teapot with a monster unbroken opening stand of 246.
Day one of the match between Northern Districts and Central Districts at Bay Oval was abandoned without a ball bowled.
