Pride at stake as Otago faces Auckland

The Otago Volts have headed south with little but professional pride to play for.

The side will take on Auckland in Invercargill over the next four days but any chance of winning the Plunket Shield has long gone.

Canterbury is a runaway leader in the competition while Otago sits well back in fifth, ahead of only defending champion Wellington which has had a season to forget.

Auckland is in third place but has won only one more game than Otago.

Otago will have a new-look bowling attack to take on Auckland with both Jacob Duffy and Nathan Smith out of the side because of injury. Duffy strained a quad while Smith has broken a finger.

Otago lost to Canterbury by 188 runs on Sunday in Christchurch but Walter said the side played some good cricket mixed with some poor efforts.

"The boys have bounced back from the game but at the end of the day we just did not play well enough on that first day and last day," he said.

"Not everything went to plan, but the two days in the middle we got ourselves back in the game.

"But on that last day we just did not bat well enough."

Otago was chasing 337 runs on the final day but the loss of five wickets in an hour scuttled the side’s chances and it ended up short by 188 runs.

The Volts needed to make an impact on both sides of the game. The batting had fallen away too often this season.

Plenty of players had made starts but not many had gone on with the job.

Otago played at Queen’s Park last year and earned a 52-run win over Canterbury. Runs were in short supply in that game and neither team managed to get through to 300 in either of its innings.

Invercargill cricket officials have been working hard on getting a good pitch for the game but the weather has not been too hot lately which may give some help to the bowlers.

Auckland has lost batsman Mark Chapman to the Black Caps. He has been replaced by Cole Briggs.

The 23-year-old has been knocking on the door after making a great beginning to his List-A career with scores of 101 and 99 from his first two knocks.

Fine weather is forecast for the next four days.

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