Volts captain Luke Georgeson will be sidelined for an indefinite period in the Super Smash.
Georgeson bowled just two deliveries in Sunday night’s T20 game against the Brave in Mt Maunganui before waving his apologies as he walked gingerly off the field and did not return.
Volts coach Josh Tasman-Jones yesterday confirmed the skipper had suffered a side strain and would need some time to recover.
"That’s a real shame for Lukey," Tasman-Jones said.
"We haven’t got the final word on exactly how long he’ll be out or how serious it is, but I suspect it will be the next few games at least."
Wicketkeeper-batter Max Chu will take over from Georgeson as captain.
Hopefully that does not affect his batting as Chu has been in excellent form, following 60 and 151 at the end of the first half of the Plunket Shield campaign with knocks of 38, 26 and 64 not out (42 balls) in the Super Smash.
"I hope I haven’t put the mockers on him but he’s got off to a good start in every game," Tasman-Jones said.
"If you watched Chuey train day-in and day-out, like I’m fortunate enough to do, the results he is getting and the way he is batting would be no surprise.
"His attention to detail and the intensity he goes about his work is incredible."
There was plenty of intensity at the Bay Oval on Sunday night.
The game ended in a rare tie as the Volts posted 166 for six and the Brave staged a late onslaught to finish on the same score.
"I’m sure it was enjoyable to watch on TV but it was a bit of a rollercoaster to be part of it as a coach.
"It was a fantastic game of cricket, and there were periods when we played some really good cricket. We possibly should have got to 180 but the wicket did die off a bit more than we expected.
"We probably feel like we should have finished it off but we’ll take the two points and move forward in the competition."
While elimination games feature the super over tiebreaker, round-robin games leave teams sharing the spoils, and Tasman-Jones leans towards having the six-ball shootout as an option to find a winner.
"T20 cricket is about entertainment and the fans, and I think I’d like to see a super over being used.
"You get a decent crowd on a summer’s evening watching a really good game of cricket, and everyone kind of leaves feeling a bit deflated when it’s a tie.
"Maybe it was a just result, but from an entertainment point of view, it would have been nice for that game to go to a super over."
A feature of the second half of Sunday’s game was the spell when Volts spinner Ben Lockrose was joined by the unlikely figure of Troy Johnson to put a (temporary) strangle on Northern’s chase.
Johnson had never bowled a Super Smash game before, but the Volts sensed he could be effective.
"It was a bit of an on-the-fly decision based on what we’d seen in the first innings and Henry Cooper doing a pretty effective job for them [Northern].
"We thought Troy could be an option for us and he bowled beautifully. He and Lockrose really tied down the game in those middle overs."
Tasman-Jones hailed a "bit of coaching genius" from his opposite number, Northern coach BJ Watling, on Sunday night.
The Brave looked sunk in their chase before retiring out two slower batters to get some big hitters at the crease.
"It’s definitely a tactic that we’ve got up our sleeve as coaches and players, but I think it will still be something that’s going to be quite rare."
Next up for the Volts is a clash with the Auckland Aces at Eden Park Outer Oval this afternoon.
The Aces are underdone — they have had two washouts — and are missing injured frontliners Mark Chapman, Ben Lister and Simon Keene, but they have a top order containing Martin Guptill, Bevon Jacobs and former Otago man Dale Phillips that commands respect.
After the men’s game, the Sparks will seek to bounce back from their first loss in the Super Smash when they play the Auckland Hearts at the same venue.
The Hearts had a no-result in their opening game before toppling the previously unbeaten Blaze.
Super Smash
Auckland, today
Volts v Aces, 12.40pm
Sparks v Hearts, 4.50pm
