They played some great cricket in the opening two days of their Plunket Shield game against top-of-the-table Northern Districts at Seddon Park.
But Hamilton had different ideas as the on-and-off rain disrupted the final two days and Otago lost their rhythm.
Otago and Northern settled for a draw in their round-three game — Otago’s second consecutive draw — after bad light called the game last night.
Northern were, however, on the charge when the last delay came yesterday, requiring just 23 runs off 36.4 overs to win.
On Saturday, Otago were all out for 231 runs.
Openers Thorn Parkes and Jacob Cumming made a good start for Otago, until Cumming was caught behind on 38.
Parkes top-scored for his side and had some lovely shots in his innings of 68, until he too way caught behind.
The middle order struggled to get going, no-one reaching double figures, and that hurt Otago as they looked for a big total.
Dean Foxcroft added 61, finishing with back-to-back half-centurys, and anchored Otago’s innings right to the very end.
Matt Fisher took four for 72 for Northern and Brett Hampton took three for 15 in his seven overs.
Ben Pomare had some innings behind the stumps and was a safe pair of hands for Northern taking five catches.
In reply, Northern did not give their wickets away cheaply as they had in the first innings.
Bharat Popli (43) and Robbie O’Donnell (33) were unbeaten for Northern to finish on 145 for two.
The Central Stags beat the Wellington Firebirds by nine wickets in Napier. Nick Kelly added 85 for Wellington in the second innings, but Central seamer Blair Tickner took four for 53 to bowl Wellington out for 217. In reply, Central finished 167 for one.
Auckland and Canterbury finished with a draw in Auckland. Canterbury were 446 for three when the game was called off. Auckland batter Mark Chapman was the story of the game, smacking 276 runs.
OTAGO
First innings 301
NORTHERN
First innings 365
OTAGO
Second innings
T Parkes c Pomare b Fisher 68
J Cumming c Pomare b Hampton 38
D Phillips c Lellman b Fisher 13
D Foxcroft c Lellman b Fisher 61
L Carter c Pomare b Lellman 4
L Georgeson c Hampton b Wagner 7
M Chu c Pomare b Wagner 4
L Johnson c Raval b Fisher 5
T Muller c Pomare b Hampton 12
J McKay b Hampton 0
J Gibson not out 0
Extras (9b, 2lb, 3w, 5nb)19
Total (all out, 63.1 overs)231
Fall: 1-64, 2-107, 3-150, 4-165, 5-188, 6-196, 7-209, 8-231, 9-231, 10-231
Bowling: K Clarke 9-1-29-0, M Fisher 15.1-1-72-4 (1w, 4nb), N Wagner 21-5-76-2 (1w, 1nb), S Johnston 2-1-1-0, H Cooper 1-1-0-0, B Hampton 7-2-15-3, F Lellman 8-2-27-1 (1w).
NORTHERN
Second innings
H Cooper c Z Cumming b Georgeson 18
J Raval c Johnson b Foxcroft 43
B Popli not out 43
R O’Donnell not out 33
Extras (2b, 6w)8
Total (2 wkts in 24.2 overs )145
Fall: 1-24, 2-90
Bowling: L Georgeson 9-2-36-1 (4w), T Muller 6-0-42-0 (2w), D Foxcroft 4-0-15-1, J McKay 5.2-0-50-0
Result: Match drawn.
