Otago well and truly on back foot

Otago opener Hamish Rutherford plays to the legside during day two of his side’s Plunket Shield...
Otago opener Hamish Rutherford plays to the legside during day two of his side’s Plunket Shield match against Canterbury at the University Oval yesterday. PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSH
A spot of bother. Deep water. Backs to the wall.

If you ticked all of the above, you would get all three points.

Canterbury rolled Otago for 256 to take a 193-run first innings lead at the University Oval yesterday.

The visiting side added another 43 to the lead for the loss of one second-innings wicket by stumps on day two.

To add to Otago’s troubles, Canterbury will be able to call on a fresh bowler.

Fraser Sheat, who is in possession of a rather impressive first-class record of 84 wickets at an average of 25.54, has come into the match as a concussion substitute for opening batter Chad Bowes.

Bowes, who was struck by a Jarrod McKay bouncer during his first-innings knock of 118 from 82 balls, suffered delayed concussion and the laws allow for a full substitution in that situation.

Volts coach Dion Ebrahim was disappointed his side was not able to build on a couple of promising partnerships.

"I thought the Canterbury bowlers had some very good plans, both to attack us and also to defend," Ebrahim said.

"But it is obviously disappointing we didn’t get as many big partnerships as we would have liked. The Dale Phillips-Dean Foxcroft partnership could have amounted to something a bit more substantial.

"Lapses of concentration were our Achilles heel."

Canterbury resumed yesterday morning on 387 for seven.

Ish Sodhi sent a couple of sixes over midwicket to get the scoreboard humming along again.

He resumed on 11 and rushed through to 46 off 54 when he finally holed out with a swipe which ended up in the hands of Jacob Duffy down at fine leg.

Canterbury declared with his departure at 449 for nine. It then took a turn chasing the ball.

Otago opener Hamish Rutherford dispatched a series of boundaries on his way to 41 off 48.

His defence was not quite as tight, though. Spinner Cole McConchie drifted a delivery through the gap between bat and pad.

Thorn Parkes had previously spooned a catch back to seamer Will O’Rourke, while Glenn Phillips’ 25-run cameo was entertaining but brief.

Foxcroft and Dale Phillips put on 61 for the fourth wicket at a good clip.

Foxcroft, who scored a career-high 159 in his previous innings, looked in fine touch.

He peppered the off-side. Anything slightly full was sent through the covers or point.

Henry Shipley, O’Rourke and Ed Nuttall all took turns standing with their hands on their hips watching the ball get retrieved.

But approaching the two-hour mark of his innings he clipped a straight delivery from Angus McKenzie to Rhys Mariu on 68.

The Volts lost another two all too quickly.

There was still hope of building a decent total while Dale Phillips and Max Chu were together.

But Phillips went lbw shortly after bringing up his eighth first-class half century.

Chu was left batting with the tail and switched to attack mode. His 38 helped trim the gap to under 200.

O’Rourke (three for 54) and Sodhi (three for 65) accounted for most of the Otago wickets.

Northern Districts has a stranglehold on its match against Central Districts at Bay Oval. It set Central 463 to win and the visiting team is 71 for two with a day to play.

Mitchell Santner became just the third player to score a first-class century (136) and take a five-wicket bag (five for 51) in the same match for Northern Districts.

Wellington is chasing 385 for the win against Auckland but has slumped to 40 for three leaving the Aces firmly on top at Colin Maiden Park heading into the last day.

 

Canterbury

First inings

C Bowes c Chu b Gibson 118

R Mariu c Gibson b Duffy 4

C McConchie c Duffy b Muller 81

L Carter b G Phillips 18

M Hay c Foxcroft b McKay 89

C Fletcher c Duffy b Gibson 24

H Shipley lbw b Muller 28

I Sodhi c Duffy b Gibson 46

A McKenzie run out (D Phillips) 8

W O'Rourke not out 17

Extras (2b, 8lb, 6w) 16

Total (for 9 wickets dec, 107.1 overs) 449

Fall: 1-19, 2-174, 3-221, 4-227, 5-303, 6-368, 7-376, 8-401, 9-449.

Bowling: J Duffy 27-3-117-1 (2w), T Muller 23-3-120-2 (1w), J McKay 12-1-64-1 (1w), M Rippon 4-0-34-0, J Gibson 13.1-1-39-3 (2w), G Phillips 28-5-65-1.

 

Otago

First innings

H Rutherford b McConchie 41

T Parkes c & b O'Rourke 14

D Foxcroft c Mariu b McKenzie 68

G Phillips c Carter b Nuttall 25

D Phillips lbw b Sodhi 50

M Rippon b McKenzie 0

M Chu c Hay b Sodhi 38

T Muller b O'Rourke 5

J Duffy c Mariu b O'Rourke 4

J McKay not out 0

Extras (4b, 1lb, 1w, 2nb) 8

Total (all out, 63 overs) 256

Fall: 1-40, 2-79, 3-112, 4-173, 5-178, 6-183, 7-222, 8-227, 9-231, 10-256.

Bowling: H Shipley 9-0-50-0 (1w), W O'Rourke 16-3-54-3, E Nuttall 8-0-46-1, A McKenzie 9-0-28-2, C McConchie 4-1-8-1, I Sodhi 17-3-65-3 (2nb).

 

Canterbury

Second innings

R Mariu c D Phillips b Muller 5

M Hay not out 14

C McConchie not out 21

Extras (2lb, 1w) 3

Total (1 wicket, 17 overs) 43

Fall: 1-9.

Bowling: J Duffy 6-2-12-0 (1w), T Muller 4-0-16-1, J Gibson 4-0-12-0, J McKay 3-2-1-0.

 

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