Otago will have the next couple of weeks to come up with a plan on how to salvage its season.
The Volts’ slim one-day playoff prospects were snuffed out by rain in Auckland yesterday.
In fact, all three domestic one-day games were washed out, which means Central Districts will host Auckland in New Plymouth on Saturday in the major semifinal, and Northern Districts will host the minor semifinal against defending champion Canterbury in Whangarei.
Wellington joins Otago on the sidelines. The Volts’ next engagement is a first-class game against Central Districts at McLean Park beginning on March 1.
Otago finished last in the one-day competition with two wins. The side had a tough twenty20 tournament as well, with just two wins and another last-place finish.
Its form in the first-class tournament has not been much better, either. Otago has lost its past four games and is very near the bottom of the competition standings.
Considering Otago finished last in all three formats last season, it has not been a particularly auspicious period.
On paper, the Volts look to have a decent squad but the results have fallen well below what might be expected from the group.
The senior players have not been seizing control of games and guiding the team through what appears to be a transitional period for the association.
Test bowler Neil Wagner has really laboured in the one-day tournament with just two wickets at an average of 97. Former Black Caps spinner Mark Craig was not able to make a positive impact either, with two wickets at 42.50.
Strike bowler Jacob Duffy proved expensive and was dropped, while legspinner Michael Rippon’s strike rate of 70.80 was way too high.
Jack Hunter was one of the few positive stories to emerge. He was Otago’s leading wicket-taker with 12 at 22.75. Some of the batting statistics were not too bad. Shawn Hicks (46.60) and Derek de Boorder (40.20) averaged more than 40.
Jimmy Neesham finished strongly with the bat, averaging 37 at almost a run a ball.
Neil Broom (246 runs at 35.14) played some useful innings but has not been at his best this season, while Hamish Rutherford scored a century in the opening game but his form fell away thereafter. He scored just 77 runs in the next six games.Captain Rob Nicol’s form has been underwhelming, as well. He managed 160 runs at 26.66.
The only good news to come from Otago’s early exit is it will have a little bit longer than most of its opponents to prepare for the second round of Plunket Shield games. It has a lot of work to do, though.
